The Cassandra Complex

If I Were A Cartoon Character...

2007-04-05T20:36:00.000+10:00

... I might look like this:

From here - that was fun! :)

Like Something From A Movie

2007-03-29T09:28:00.000+10:00

... One of those corny, B grade (barely) ones where some sort of plant gets a case of the mutants and tries to eat everyone.

I am speaking, of course, of my discovery that a vine on the outside of my house had broken in via one of the windows.

The window was already cracked (it had been that way since I bought the house) but the enterprising mutant plant seems to have figured out it was a point of weakness and smashed its way in. That offshoot had since died, leaving little dead leaves all over the floor. I only just discovered it because I was cleaning up the spare room - the broken window was hidden behind permanently closed blinds, under a table.

Freaky.

So I am sitting here waiting for a window dude to arrive to replace the window. And I've decided vines are evil and scary and will be getting rid of the guilty party.

Dresses - Hooray!

2007-03-23T09:20:00.000+11:00

We've finally managed to choose bridesmaid's dresses. The irony, of course, is that we've ended up getting them from the same place I ordered my dress (think of the time we could've saved if we'd just gone there in the first place!).

The colour of choice is claret red (a few shades darker than scarlet). They are going to look uber sexy.

Bad Day

2007-03-23T09:16:00.000+11:00

You know you're having a bad day when:

* you find a significant error at work and, when you inform the big boss about it he rants on at you for ten minutes about not having faith in your work (before apologising for shooting the messenger, admittedly);

* it's only your third week in the job so you haven't yet mustered the business knowledge to answer all the questions off the cuff;

* you have a job interview scheduled for said same job - and you haven't had time to study (it seemed to go ok, so we'll see);

* it's your last day of work for a while because you have nail surgery booked, so you have to get everything tied up before you go;

* you have to have two separate performance management meetings with your ex-supervisor and new supervisor, and while they are mostly positive they also give some valid criticisms that you have to take on board (making you feel a bit meh); and

* the button on your pants falls off (lucky you have a long shirt over the top).

More Art

2007-03-12T22:00:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since I posted any pictures here (hell, it's been a while since I've done any) so here are my latest bits and pieces from dA. Some time in the past few months I've somehow cracked 20,000 views on my page there. Weird.

Pin Art

2007-03-06T19:10:00.000+11:00

The building I work in is several stories tall; as a result, it has two elevators in it, of varying reliability. A couple of weeks ago some enterprising soul put a cork board up in each one, so that people can pin notices for various social club events to it rather than using sticky tape on the faux timber walls and scuffing up the laminate.

Each corkboard comes with its allocation of pins with translucent white heads on them.

The instant that these pins became available, people started making art with them. (I also am not immune from the temptation to rearrange.) We started with smiley faces and words like "hi" (there aren't enough pins to go beyond two letters). Once someone had spelled "ho", which I thought was a bit much!

But often the pin art is more abstract - a spread out series of hieroglyphs that I often can't make sense of even if I tip my head to the side.

I guess it's sort of like staring at clouds and seeing a dragon as opposed to a large white fluffy mass. Or one of those visual puzzles that you can either see as a person with a long nose or a duck. Sometimes you can see it, and sometimes you need someone to tell you what the hell it's meant to be, and even then you might not be able to figure it out!

…

Anyway, onto other things, we still don't have bridesmaid's dresses yet. We'd organised to go shopping at Harts last weekend but it was still closed due to water damage from the severe storm we'd had earlier in the week. You could smell the carpet rotting from under the door - it was gross. Not their fault, but it's starting to get a bit frustrating.

And on WoW news, I've taken ages to get my main character to the new level of 70 since the supplement came out. There were a few weeks where I was only playing it once a week rather than more often, which slowed me down. But I am now at 68 and because I'm playing a druid that means I get access to a flight form I can use in the new areas. Soaring along as a crow over mobs that would like to stomp my face in is rather fun!

Wedding Checklist

2007-02-21T20:54:00.000+11:00

It's eight months out and maybe I am being uber organised, but here's the stuff I have done so far:

Venue - a hotel where we can get married at the same place
Celebrant - and we've done a draft of the ceremony
Cars - one limo, one other
Dress - mine, ordered (I'd link it but can't risk that M. will look here)
Honeymoon - booked. Daydream Island, aww yeah!
Photographer - using Fusion Photography. He's good but awfully expensive. But you get what you pay for and I do NO T want shit photos.

Things I'm currently looking at:

Bridesmaids' dresses - we've looked but haven't yet found one. The colour of choice is likely to be wine red.
Hairstyle - have a few ideas
Shoes - ditto
Bridal registry - I've had the Myer bridal registry package posted out and we'll probably go with them 'cause they are interstate
Wedding rings - started browsing
Flowers - I have some ideas but can't go any further till we have the dresses

But the list of things to do is quite daunting:

Accessories, groom's gear, cake, Bonbonerie (I never even knew what that was till I got engaged, I called them "the little present things on the tables"), invitations, seating plans, menus, eek!

I don't think I can realistically get started on it any sooner though.

...

The engagement party went well. We had spit roast, which was delicious, and lots of friends and family showed up. The only thing that was a bit of a shame (though inevitable) was that I spent so much time running around doing stuff I didn't really get to sit and enjoy myself. Two or three times I was handed a can of something alcoholic and managed not to even get as far as opening it! Whoops! :S

Quote Tag

2007-02-21T20:48:00.000+11:00

Bloody tags.

I got tagged by Mikey to name my five favourite quotes. This is hard for me because I have a very bad memory for that sort of thing and so must try and remember and then look stuff up (and decide between a number of cool quotes from the one source). But I'll give it a shot.

Bloody Mikey.

1. "For instance, assuming that there is a heaven, who would ever want to go there? Ya know? I mean think about it; it's cool, you're sitting there up on this cloud. It's nice, it's quiet. There's no teachers, there's no parents... but guess what... there's nothing to do! It's fucking boring!" - Happy Harry Hard On, Pump Up the Volume (My all time favourite teen movie - see more cool quotes here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100436/quotes)

2. "Ain't logical. Cuttin' on his own face, rapin' and murdering - Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight ... or if he bothers me … or if there's a woman ... or if I'm gettin' paid - mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. But these Reavers... last ten years they show up like the bogeyman from stories. Eating people alive? Where's that get fun?" - Jayne, Serenity (Trying to pick one quote from that movie is hard, so I just went for one that was funny AND internally consistent! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/quotes)

3. "Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping. Waiting. And though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir, open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have?" - Angelus, Buffy: the Vampire Slayer (All time favourite Buffy quote - he was the best bad guy. http://www.twiztv.com/scripts/buffy/season2/buffy-217.htm)

4. "Oh, yeah, what are you gonna do? Release the dogs? Or the bees? Or the dogs with bees in their mouth and when they bark, they shoot bees at you?" - Homer Simpson, The Simpsons (Again, how can you pick just one Simpsons quote? This one gets used a lot around our house so I picked it, but any Ralph Wiggam quote would also do! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/quotes)

5. "Arise! Arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day... a red day... ere the sun rises! Ride now!... Ride now!... Ride! Ride to ruin and the world's ending! Death! Death! Death!" - Theoden, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (That speech always gives me goosebumps when I watch that movie. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0167260/quotes)

I tag Cthu1hu and Capital_Mum.

Haha, revenge is mine!

Ho ho ho...

2006-12-28T23:52:00.000+11:00

A new manipulation I did today in the (belated) spirit of the holidays. Ain't she purty?

Christmas is a busy time of year for most people, but as one half of a newly engaged couple who have one half of the combined family in a different state, it's been spastically busy.

On the marriage front, we've secured a venue for the wedding and reception (we're hoping to get married in the courtyard there - it's a rather popular Canberra hotel), and I've started looking at wedding dresses. I've also emailed a few photographers, though only one has gotten back to me so far.

My parents have also agreed to host an engagement party next month, so we will get to organise that soon. It should be fun, I hope! :D

On the Christmas front, we finished our shopping about two weeks before Christmas (the mall was scary, and we got there at opening time!!). Christmas Eve we had a late breakfast with my parents and sister, then drove up to Sydney just after midday. Christmas day was a BBQ with M's family, which is quite a bit bigger than mine - about twice as large, and they weren't even all there! :O

Boxing Day we drove home first thing in the morning, waved hello to the dogs, and then went to a mate's place for our now traditional (it's been three years in a row!) post Christmas left-overs BBQ. It was awesome.

So yesterday, my first day of actual holidays (despite having been on leave since Friday), I spent all day playing Warcraft. Today we went shopping (I got a giant stuffed elephant as a Chrissie present to myself!), and when we got home I played with Photoshop (as above) and tidied up my deviantART page. It's been SOOOOO good.

I am off work till 8th January. And I need it. Since I started this new job in August, things just haven't stopped. What's more, there've been some changes in the management there that mean I don't enjoy working there as much as I thought I would. I miss my old job - I was good enough at it that even though it was busy I could do it with one hand tied behind my back.

Rassenfrassen.

Dear Mr Howard

2006-12-21T18:30:00.000+11:00

Dear Mr Howard,

I have recently become engaged and have secured for myself the services of a celebrant. She has advised me and my betrothed of the legal requirements for our marriage ceremony, which you've recently inserted into the Marriage Act. I refer to the following required excerpts:

(To be spoken by the celebrant): "Before you are joined in marriage in my presence and in the presence of these witnesses, I am to remind you of the solemn and binding nature of the relationship into which you are now about to enter.

Marriage, according to law in Australia, is the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life."

Now, I am not wildly excited by the homophobia we're required to advertise and endorse on one of the most special days of our lives, but I know that you won't change it. So I am not going to ask.

However, can you please review the following vow, which I'm told we're not allowed to reword in any way:

"I call upon the persons here present to witness that I, [name], take thee, [name], to be my lawful wedded wife/husband."

The persons here present? You really didn't consider the practicalities of having to say that at a wedding ceremony when you're nervous, did you? Or of trying to integrate it with romantic avowals of love and friendship?

If you could have the law changed by October next year to make that phrase more user friendly, that would be appreciated.

Thank you.

Cass

Yes

2006-12-04T18:02:00.000+11:00

Yes, Morton, it was a (not so sly) allusion...

M. proposed to me last Monday morning. Till now I have been too giddy to post anything more substantial here. :P

We've been together for two years - it was our anniversary; we were lying together in bed procrastinating about getting in the shower to get ready for work when he asked. My answer was "'Course I will, stupid." What can I say, I was half asleep and totally floored by it all.

We went ring shopping on Friday and got me this:

And because it seems only fair, I got M. an engagement watch:

I am so stoked, even though organising an event as huge as a wedding is a teeny bit intimidating. We're meeting a celebrant (a friend of a friend) tomorrow, and going venue hunting next week. We're thinking next October is looking like a likely date, but it will depend on what's available. It's the middle of spring here then so it's the peak of wedding season.

Yay! :D

Bouquet Magic

2006-11-27T17:26:00.000+11:00

So maybe there's something to that bouquet magic after all... :D

Charlotte

2006-11-25T15:41:00.000+11:00

I did a "character sketch" (ie photo manipulation; that's the only sort of sketch I can do!) of a character I was thinking of playing in Inkling's new Steampunk game. The concept is that she is the widow of an occult investigator; she didn't know what he was into. After he ran afoul of some supernatural beastie, she decided it was jolly well time to find out!

I was thinking of making her a psychic too - something her husband didn't know! ;)

My Old Lady Moment

2006-11-21T18:04:00.000+11:00

So yesterday I fell over in the kitchen.

Our tiled areas have this lovely white tiling that looks great when it’s just been swept two seconds before, but has the disadvantages of showing up every speck of dirt and of being perilously slippery when wet. Or even damp, or the memory of damp.

As I demonstrated yesterday. Landed on my right hand side; the back of my right thigh feels like one huge bruise. It’s in the exact right position so that if I sit down on the toilet the seat runs neatly across the length of the entire pain area.

On the bright side, I was holding a steak knife and fork in my hand when I fell, so it could’ve been a hell of a lot worse.

I can see how elderly people with brittle bones can manage to shatter themselves pulling stunts like that. And given how clumsy I can be, maybe I ought to start saving for that walking frame now...

Hush

2006-11-14T00:06:00.000+11:00

A new manip. Spent hours on it but at the same time because the basic foundation of the picture is the same as the original - which you can see here - it sort of feels more like practice than something "real" to me.

But she makes me think of Evil Willow, so it can't be all bad. ;)

On a different note, M and I finally finished watching the boxed set of the first season of Lost that we got a year or so ago (whenever it was it came out). Been very slack! It was cool though. Guess I'll have to buy season two now so I can see what happens next - I can't be bothered trying to keep up with it (or anything) on TV.

Got Warcraftin' to do, consarnit!

Speaking of which, our guild downed a new boss last Wednesday, a pissed off dragon critter called Razorgore. It was fun! :)

Trashy Tabloid Headlines

2006-11-06T19:39:00.000+11:00

Don't look now, but I think the ACT Liberal party might also write headlines for the Daily Telegraph or one of its brethren.

Here are some pearlers from their website.

"Ebenezer Stanhope?"
"Stanhope Government Celebrates World Teachers' Day By Abusing Teachers"
"Stanhope Government Savages Sports Grants"
"Tharwa: Canberra's Orphan Child"
"Waiting Lists Up Again; What Are You Doing, Minister?"
"Whose Rights Are At Work - Not ACT Voters"
"Stanhope Trying to Demonize [sic] Christian Lobby on Same Sex Relationship Law"
"A Tale of Two Governments - What a Difference In Economic Management!"
"Has Grassland Earless Dragon Left Land Swap Legless?"
"Weston Creek Being Burnt Again!"

And, my absolute favourite:

"Tidings of Murder: Minister Declares Open Season On Magpies"

ZOMG!

I was trying to find out what the ACT Liberal party policy is with regards to the closure of schools in the ACT (given they closed schools in 1990 - sniffing around for the scent of hypocrisy that good ol Gary accused the Labor party of), but I have to admit, if it's there, I couldn't get past the cheesy headlines enough to find it!

Leading Lady

2006-11-01T19:09:00.000+11:00

My last post for this evening - I need to go and fix some food before a WoW raid in 45 minutes.

Here's my latest manip:

You can see the dA submission here.

I'd be interested in getting some feedback. I haven't had many comments yet, and no one has given me feedback on particular aspects of the picture without me having to point them out first...

Yes, I am being cryptic! :P

Tagged by Mikey

2006-11-01T18:56:00.000+11:00

I got tagged by Mikey, so here goes.

1-Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?

I prefer the new layout to what I had before but the header on this template is lame. I should sit down and fix it one day.

As far as the contents go, some posts I don't mind and others are meh.

2-Does your family know about your blog?

Nope.

3-Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?

Yeah, they know. :)

4-Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? or you try to discover new blogs?

I read the blogs of my friends, pretty much. Which isn't much work because most of them hardly ever update. :D

Oh, I also don't read LiveJournals. I've tried it but never seem to - probably because I can't browse them on my lunch break at work (firewall). So if you're a friend and I don't read your blog, that's probably why! :P

5-Did your blog positively affect (sic) your mind? Give an example.

Er. Yes. Sometimes it can be cathartic, having a bit of a rant. Eg my recent government post, or the one I put up after I had my cat put down. *sniffle*

6-What does the number of visitors to your blog mean? Do you use a traffic counter?

Not a lot, and no.

7-Did you imagine how other bloggers look like?

Most of them I know. Except Skarnz. And I've seen his WoW-toon. What do you mean he isn't a tall woman with long ears and purple hair?! :O

8-Do you think blogging has any real benefit?

Only to me. I don't think I say anything that makes any real difference to anyone else.

9-Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?

Not at all. If it was, people wouldn't get offended by what others write.

10-Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?

I don't read too many that are political - just Mikey's, and I tend to agree with him. But I can easily imagine that there are some out there that would scare me.

11-Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?

I am happy to debate things that I post in my blog. And constructive criticism is always beneficial.

12-Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog in case you died?

Not really. It would stop, I imagine. :P

13-Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?

Mikey, because of the few blogs I read he posts the most! :)

14-Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?

I know almost all of them, so I'd have to say Capital Mum. She's a girl! 8)

15-Name a song you want to listen to?

Something with some base.

Tagged - Skarnz, Capital Mum and Cthu1hu :)

My Own Feeble Attempts

2006-11-01T18:54:00.000+11:00

My own attempts at the six word story challenge:

She caught the bouquet. He ran.

Inspired by recent events! :P

Out of coffee?! Colleagues in danger!

Sadly this is true. I am not a morning person. My supervisor has learned not to talk to me till I've got a coffee in hand!

Feel free to post your own stories in the comments. :)

Six Word Stories

2006-11-01T18:48:00.000+11:00

I was having a natter with Cthu1hu at lunch on one of our regular walks, and he mentioned that Wired had just published an interesting article of six word stories by various authors, including the fantabulous Joss Whedon. So I went looking for it and found it here.

In Wired's words, here's the reason for the contest: Hemingway once wrote a story in just six words ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn.") and is said to have called it his best work. So we asked sci-fi, fantasy, and horror writers from the realms of books, TV, movies, and games to take a shot themselves.

Here are my favourites from the list:

Gown removed carelessly. Head, less so.
- Joss Whedon (my hero!)

Computer, did we bring batteries? Computer?
- Eileen Gunn

Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time
- Alan Moore (hehe, clever)

We kissed. She melted. Mop please!
- James Patrick Kelly

It’s behind you! Hurry before it
- Rockne S. O’Bannon

Lie detector eyeglasses perfected: Civilization collapses.
- Richard Powers

I’m dead. I’ve missed you. Kiss … ?
- Neil Gaiman

The baby’s blood type? Human, mostly.
- Orson Scott Card

Kirby had never eaten toes before.
- Kevin Smith

TIME MACHINE REACHES FUTURE!!! … nobody there …
- Harry Harrison

Batman Sues Batsignal: Demands Trademark Royalties.
- Cory Doctorow

Bush told the truth. Hell froze.
- William Gibson

whorl. Help! I'm caught in a time
- Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel

God to Earth: “Cry more, noobs!”
- Marc Laidlaw (hahahahaha!)

Help! Trapped in a text adventure!
- Marc Laidlaw

Bang postponed. Not Big enough. Reboot.
- David Brin

Will this do (lazy writer asked)?
- Ken MacLeod

MUD avatars rebel: virtual Independence Day.
- Paul Di Filippo

There were only six words left.
- Gregory Maguire

Starlet sex scandal. Giant squid involved.
- Margaret Atwood

He read his obituary with confusion.
- Steven Meretzky

Steve ignores editor's word limit and
- Steven Meretzky

Dorothy: "Fuck it, I'll stay here."
- Steven Meretzky

Religion and Government Schools

2006-11-01T18:47:00.000+11:00

(I wrote this rant yesterday, 31 October, but didn't post it till today.)

Over the last couple of days there’s been talk on the news of the government’s latest initiative: that they will be allocating an amount of $20,000 per school ($90m over three years) for chaplains. Apparently our schools have “extensive counseling arrangements”, so this money is “providing and supporting students' spiritual wellbeing and their pastoral care”.

The quotes are by Julie Bishop, the Minister for Education, from the AM transcript yesterday.

This made me cranky; talk about wasting taxpayer money on pushing a religious agenda. Bishop was full of “it's up to the school community to determine if they want the chaplaincy services and also, if they do, what sort of services do they want” style talk. Can you honestly imagine any school that wasn’t founded on the basis of religion coming to a consensus?

What’s more, while I can appreciate that kids aren’t necessarily going to want to talk to their parents about some issues in their lives, if I were a parent I’d want to know that the advice my kid had access to at school was even handed and didn’t have its own religious issues to push.

“Extensive counseling arrangements”? Not when I was at school. Maybe things are different these days – but the few calls I heard on the radio yesterday morning before I had to get out of the car made me think otherwise. I’d rather see the $20k spent on additional, more secular counseling services. Or at least give the schools the choice!

On the drive to work today I got even more cranky, because they were interviewing Tony “I was taught by magnificent, heroic nuns, and they wore the habit, but they certainly had their faces visible” Abbott.

Yes, he really said that.

On the subject of the chaplaincy program, he also said, “We think that religious faith is important. We also think that the faith of our fathers is important. It shouldn't be devalued or downgraded and we are just providing some modest assistance to schools that also think that religious faith is important and want to give their kids access to it.”

Maybe I am being less than charitable in my assumptions, but the “faith of our fathers” comment in line with the nuns comment and the rest of the interview (which was Islam bad, Christianity good) says to me that the government is expecting that, for the most part, this new “initiative” will push a Christian agenda.

After all, schools with more of a mix of faiths are unlikely to agree on what they want and therefore are unlikely to participate. So the government is unlikely to have to pay for something that isn’t the “faith of our fathers” – all the while being able to say it was the choice of the school community in question so it isn’t their fault!

Grr!

Here’s the rest of what Abbott said that boiled my blood this morning:

“I think religion has a very important role in society, but when people enter politics they do so motivated by civic values as much as by religious values. The beauty of Christian social teaching is that it's based on reason, not revelation, and that's why I think that Christians certainly have much to contribute to our political process. There never seems to have been the Islamic equivalent of the Enlightenment. Islam doesn't seem to have a well-developed concept of pluralism, and the separation of church and state. And pluralism and the separation of church and state are central to modern western society. I certainly think it's good to have people of faith in politics, but they've got to understand that in polity such as Australia, positions can only be advanced if they are based [on] reason, if they are based on arguments that are accessible to everyone, not simply arguments that are accessible only to people of a particular religious persuasion.”

GRR! (Did I say that already?)

I hate this government. I hate their religious bias; I hate their support of Guantanamo Bay and their refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol. I hate their industrial relations reforms and their crinkle-eyed leader. And I hate their control of the Senate.

Please god (any god, whoever’s listening), let them lose – or at least lose numbers – at the next election. Let the climate change issues or the interest rates or the industrial relations reforms or something show people that this government isn’t working in their best interests unless they are a rich Christian big business owner!

Art and Stuff

2006-10-24T11:30:00.000+10:00

I love browsing sexy art at deviantART, and playing World of Warcraft, and recently I devised a way where I could put the two together!

I created a new account on dA called WoW-Art and I've spent the past few days trolling dA looking for art and favouriting it. I've collected some gorgeous pieces, mostly digital art (which is my weakness) – to check out the eye-candy go here.

As an aside, I'm waiting to find out whether M. won a temporary (month long) opportunity for higher duties in Sydney. It'd be a great opportunity for him, so I hope he gets it, but at the same time I would miss him and so would the puppies. :(

My tummy is all nervous.

Peppermint

2006-10-18T14:14:00.000+10:00

So I finally did a new manipulation, after a couple of months (unless the wallpaper counts!). I called her Peppermint:

The advantage of a portrait is that I only use one bit of stock instead of many. Hunting for stock is the worst part of being a photomanipulator, far and away. I hate it with a fiery passion. Finding a picture of a sufficient resolution that meets your requirements and is allowed for the sort of use you want it for (for me that's making prints) is very hard. :(

You can see a bigger version of the picture here.

New Section

2006-10-17T13:26:00.000+10:00

A photo from while we were in Healesville, which tickled my macabre sense of humour.

(If the picture doesn't load for you, click on it and it should open up the page where I've put it on dA.)

What WoW Character Are You?

2006-10-11T13:50:00.000+10:00

Gnome Rogue

Gnomes are strange little things. Fascinated with gadgets and shiny things, gnomes are often plotting and planning - but are pretty smart, despite all the explosions.

As a rogue, you're always looking out for number one. You aren't afraid to do whatever it takes to win - and if things take a turn for the worse, you can always vanish into the night... Just don't run out of flash powder.

Find out your real-life WoW race and class at QuizGalaxy.com

Not sure about the rogue thing - I don't even play one! :P

Weddings and World of Warcraft

2006-10-09T11:21:00.000+10:00

An entire week and a bit off work and I didn’t manage to update my blog even once. Slack? Yes.

M. and I went to Melbourne for the wedding of two friends, K. (the bride) and J. (the groom). Well, we thought we were going to Melbourne; that’s where the flight landed. It turns out, however, that we were really going to Healesville, which is in the Yarra Valley, an area that can only be called part of Melbourne in the sense that it appears in the Melbourne street directory. In the upper right hand corner. If it were one square further north it would be off the map. There be dragons.

Actually, there were no dragons. It’s a beautiful area. Lots of very green hills. I have never seen farmland so green in Australia; around here, it tends to be all golden brown and flammable-looking. And all of the main roads have the names of the two suburbs/towns that they connect as their name, which I thought was awesome. For example, Eltham Yarra Glen Rd or Healesville Yarra Glen Rd.

We stayed at a 3 ½ star hotel/motor inn style thingy called Sanctuary House. Our room was small and I didn’t have much of a sense of privacy, but the nearby restaurant was nice. I did wish that they’d provided those little bottles of shampoo and conditioner though; it was lucky that I’d had a hairdresser appointment made for the Saturday afternoon before the wedding or I would have gone nuts.

The wedding was beautiful. The bride and groom swore to "love, honour and amuse you", which I absolutely love. :D And the reception was fun. M. persuaded a five year old boy sitting at our table to ask me to dance after dinner, because he didn’t want to. Nice. I can’t dance to save myself!

I had bought myself a new dress (the first one in years) and had my hair curled at the hairdresser. The dress is black and ankle length, and has a gold fabric over the top so the overall effect is a dusky dark gold colour. It was fun to dress up for a change.

I also caught the bouquet – which is ironic given that the only thing I can usually successfully catch is a cold. Two of the other "single" (ie with a partner but not married) women in the small crowd used me as a meat shield so they wouldn’t catch it. I distinctly recall being pushed! Anyway, I did a quick, footballer style pass to a teenage girl standing next to me. I figured that given she was a local she’d appreciate the flowers more; I would’ve had to leave them in the hotel room when we flew home.

M. came up to me afterwards and the first thing he said was, “I am so fucked”. I love you too! :P

The next day we went to the Healesville Sanctuary. Everyone had told us how awesome the bird of prey show was, and they were right. A series of handlers came out with different birds of prey, who were free-flying. We were under strict orders to remain seated while the show was on and I can see why; if you'd stood up suddenly you might have copped a falcon in the back of the head. A feathery one, not a car.

The coolest bird was the black breasted buzzard, which instinctively uses rocks to crack hard-shelled eggs like those of emus. I got some awesome photos of that. Some of the other birds I couldn’t capture because the damn things moved so fast! :P The peregrine falcon took off when they released it and didn't come back for about 10 minutes; it must've been off having a perv at a lady falcon or something. And they couldn't show us the wedge-tailed eagle because there was a wild one hovering overhead waiting for it to appear so it could presumably try and eat its face off. Don't you love spring? :)

It was good to get home. Our dogs were happy to see us too.

The rest of the week was pretty much spent playing Warcraft. It was my sister's birthday on the 3rd, so I took her shopping and bought her a nice knitted jacket thing and a top to go under it. She is gorgeous which makes her fun to shop for. A few days later we also bough her a copy of WoW after she played it a bit at our house and thought it looked like fun. The game is reduced to $30 at the moment because the supplement is about to come out (yay!) so it was pretty cheap. Shame the bimonthly subscription cards are so expensive! :(

She made herself a gnome rogue with pink hair. Very cute and appropriately manic; she has a tendency to run off without looking to pick a flower or something! I bought her a pet bunny rabbit. It seemed appropriate at the time.

I got a couple of new items for my main character on WoW, which was sweet. You can see her gear profile here … though I am not sure anyone reads this that would know what they are looking at! (Hint: Purple means it's good.) The two new items are the Wild Growth Spaulders and the Choker of Enlightenment. Go me!

And that's pretty much it. Back at work this week, which makes me a sad panda. But the mortgage has to get paid somehow I guess. :|

PS I didn't manage to stay up till 5am to click the button on that Cities game. I think I am too old to pull an all-nighter these days; by 1am I was exhausted. So I am not sure if I will be playing that game anymore unless I can come up with some other way of doing it.

Sir Rhapsodie Likes Her Sleep

2006-09-27T13:51:00.000+10:00

After Cthu1hu kept raving about it, I created account on the dinky little web-based game called Cities. I called my character Rhapsodie.

She’s now Sir Rhapsodie (I got knighted), an initiate of the four elemental temples. Her other achievements are that she can swim and do first aid. :P

I think I’ve come unstuck though. I started doing a quest called Time and Space, which gives you the ability to know where you are so you can later do other quests without getting hopelessly lost. Cthu1hu assures me it’s a good thing to do.

The problem is that it requires you to find these four little shrine thingies and worship at a thematically appropriate time of day. And because the game times are British, the “night shrine” (the only one I’ve found so far) requires me to click on a button between 5 and 6 am Canberra time! :O

I only know such a time even exists from vague childhood recollections (I almost wrote “relocations”, haha – but also true) of long car trips at Christmas to see the grandparents. And I subscribe to the theory that morning only exists to keep night and afternoon from bumping into one another.

So it doesn’t look good for poor Sir Rhapsodie at this stage.

Unless… M. and I have next week off work. Maybe I can push through to 5am playing WoW one day! :D

Sarah vs Hermione - battle of the wax

2006-09-26T11:07:00.000+10:00

I finally managed to get a copy of Labyrinth last weekend (third time lucky, eh?) and watched it on Sunday. I’d also watched the fourth Harry Potter movie earlier in the weekend, and something really struck me about Labyrinth in comparison to Harry Potter and most other movies these days.

No, I am not talking about the tights on David Bowie … who had to have gone the stocking stuffer; talk about an eye-catching bulge, almost literally in the case of poor Hoggle!

I am also not talking about the hairstyle on David Bowie; it was big and presumably required gallons of hairspray (even if it was a wig), but hey, he’s a goblin king and I can accept the weird hair.

And I am not talking about the special effects. The obvious uses of blue screen are forgivable given the age of the movie.

What I am talking about is eyebrows.

Sarah, played by Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth, is gorgeous. When I was a teenager I wanted to be her – I thought she was a million times cooler than me, and absolutely adorable. (Plus I went through a brief phase of thinking the goblin king was a bit of alright, which shows I was a victim of 80s fashion, same as everyone else.)

I never noticed at the time that she had anything unusual about her eyebrows. But now it seems really obvious.

Here are two pictures; you'll see what I mean (intentional obscure quote of the worm in Labyrinth):

The first is Sarah. The second is Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), looking just as lovely, and about the same age. I wanted to pick a girl the same age and from the same genre of movie, to make the comparison as legitimate as possible...

Sarah's are clearly more natural eyebrows. Hermione's are much more ... cultivated? Waxed or plucked - it doesn't really matter.

Given how eyebrow fashions have changed, it shouldn't come as a great surprise. But (like all fashions I suppose) I didn’t really notice it changing.

I did briefly experiment with eyebrow waxing a few years ago - I had it done about twice. But it hurt, I am a wuss, and the raw lobster look after you get it done that takes a while to fade wasn't for me.

Makes me feel a bit sorry for young actors like Emma Watson. Of course, given how much money she must be making, I suppose I shouldn't feel too sorry!

World of Warcraft wallpaper

2006-09-19T19:29:00.000+10:00

Haha, I am such a geek! I made myself a wallpaper of all of my World of Warcraft toons. :)

(If you click on the image it'll bring up the submission in my dA scraps gallery, which you can full view to see a larger image.)

All of the clothes they are wearing with the exception of the lass on the far right are accurate to what the characters have right now. From left to right...

Back Row:
Druslia, succubus pet of Rhapsodie - she's the skankiest looking one
Rhapsodie, warlock - wearing the black dress
Swiftspring, druid (and main toon) - the lass on the frostsabre wearing a plant on her shoulders
Evelyne, hunter (main alt) - the lass with the gun
Brindabella, mage - wearing red (she is very low level so her real clothes are hideous)

Front Row:
Cynamonn, warrior - the gnome with the axes and Princess Leia haircut
Bagginses, bank alt - he's my only male toon, the one I use to hold stuff for the others
Ra, lion - pet of Evelyne

Yes, they are all Alliance (no Horde there), and with the exception of poor Bagginses (who is wearing a dress) and Ra (who barely counts), they are all women. I've never had an inclination to play a male character.

The characters were all rendered using the Wow Model Viewer and all of the post work was done in Photoshop (of course)!

Talk Like a Pirate, Ye Scurvy Dogs

2006-09-19T13:44:00.000+10:00

Yarr!

Once again, today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, which I blogged about last year.

Last year I linked the pirate translator, so this year for something different I will instead post the words to "A Children’s Pirate Shanty" by Mark "Cap’n Slappy" Summers, to be sung to the tune of "I'm a Lumberjack and I'm ok".

Chorus:
I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

Yo Ho, my friends I have a tale
of treasure, plunder, sea and sail
my story's bigger than a whale
it gets so deep, ye'll have to bail.

Chorus
I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

I like to fish, I like to fight
I like to stay up half the night
When I say "starboard" ye go right!
Me ma, she says, "Ye look a fright!"

Chorus
I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

I've got no hand but that's me hook!
I pillage stuff but I'm no crook.
Me booty's in this chest I took.
They'll write about me in a book!

Chorus
I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

And that's all there is to this song.
I hope it hasn't been too long.
A pirate's life might just be wrong
So grow up nice and big and strong!

Chorus
I'm a pirate! That I be!
I sail me ship upon the sea!
I stay up late - till half past three!
And that's a peg below me knee!

Also, there’s a Pirate vs Ninja battle going on here - it’s where the adorable pirate piccie comes from.

Go and cast your vote!

Weekend Shopping

2006-09-19T09:43:00.000+10:00

I went shopping on the weekend after discovering that my 5½ year old lawnmower had bitten the dust and gone to the big toolshed in the sky. After Mikey waxed lyrical about it, M. and I considered and finally bought an electric lawnmower called the Enviromower. We went to Bunnings planning to ask advice from the staff there on what to get (I was concerned about how long the battery would hold a charge), and when we arrived the salesman was talking to an elderly couple about that exact topic. By the time he was done with them we’d pretty much made up our minds!

So I used it on Sunday to mow the lawn for the first time in ages, and I liked how lightweight and easy to start it was. How it goes in the long run remains to be seen.

I also got the first DVD of season two of Creature Comforts, an adorable British claymation (is that the term?) series where they have interviewed people on the street and then animated the interviews as animals. Clever, funny and cute – watched it yesterday while I was home sick (and half-stoned on painkillers) and it made me giggle.

I also tried to buy the Labyrinth DVD but there was some sort of conspiracy going on. Both Ezy DVD and JB Hifi swore they had copies in stock, but couldn’t find them. At least JB had only misplaced one copy – Ezy DVD had lost 20. Sheesh!

New Template

2006-09-15T15:32:00.000+10:00

I just changed my template for my blog. I never really liked the old one because the text didn’t resize to the size of the window if it was bigger – too much empty space.

I will give this new one a whirl and see how it goes. I actually like the one that Mikey is using on his, but I didn’t want to look like I was copying him! :O

My Favourite Joke

2006-09-15T15:11:00.000+10:00

When I was a kid my parents bought me a book of jokes that had such pearlers in it as:

Q. Why is it a bad idea to share secrets on a farm?
A. Because the corn has ears, the potatos have eyes, and the beanstalk.

(It took me a while to get that one.)

I remember terrorising my parents by reading the jokes over and over and expecting them to laugh.

Anyway, my favourite joke of all time, which I've liked since I was about that age, didn't come from that book (not even sure why I mentioned it!), is the following:

Q. What is green and sits in the corner?
A. A naughty frog.

...

Cmon! How can you not love that joke?!

Things That Make You Go Hmm...

2006-09-14T10:51:00.000+10:00

I don’t know if it’s something about being a geek and hanging out with geeks (roleplaying clubs, etc), but it occurred to me today again, as it has in the past, that I associate with some fairly unusual types of people – at least as far as societal norms go.

The reason I thought of it is that in the past month or so a work colleague has decided that he wants to be a she. After a bit of time off, she’s started coming into work in women’s clothes. My other colleagues here got very excitable today (imagine giggling schoolgirl reaction laced with embarrassment) when I told them after a phone call that the new-she (pardon the expression) was going to come over to our area to ask a question of one of them.

I am a bit blasé about the whole thing. This is the fourth ex-guy that I now know or at least know of, either via work or via said geek connections. I also know quite a large number of gay people (almost all via the geek connection – I am sure there are some around work but they haven’t announced it to the world if they are. Nor should they have to because it shouldn’t be relevant). I do remember, when I was a teenager, having a crush on a guy who turned out later to be gay. Fortunately by the time I found out he was gay, I didn’t have a crush on him anymore, or I might’ve been a bit upset about the whole thing.

Anyway, I admire the tremendous courage of men who decide that they should’ve been born a woman, as well as people who admit publicly that they are gay. I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it would be to actually come out of the closet (or purchase new contents for their closet!) and front up to people they used to know as a man, now wearing women’s clothes and using a different name. Especially given that when they do that they generally (I believe) haven’t even started the process of medically changing sex, so they will still look and sound like a man to one extent or another – meaning that they are going to stand out even if you just met them as a woman.

But at least one of the transgender women I know has the most gorgeous taste in clothes - so she was clearly meant to be a woman all along! ;)

"Alone Together"

2006-09-08T10:44:00.000+10:00

And now, for something psuedo-intellectual:

"Alone Together": Exploring the Social Dynamics of Massively Multiplayer Online Games

Someone actually did a proper scientific study on people's playing patterns across all servers in World of Warcraft, looking at socialisation patterns. The conclusion (summarised by me): people generally like the casual social nature of the game - having other players around you, giving the feeling of a big world - but generally don't seem to be as into "the community" as the game advertising might have you believe. Instead, they are more interested in the awfully well designed series of incremental rewards.

Well, duh!

Seriously, this is a very interesting article, and it's generally not too hard to read, especially if you're already familiar with the WoW environment. I am linking it here mostly so I can find it later.

The funniest part of the whole thing is that some students (I assume they were students) have managed to scam a way where they could play WoW for hours and call it "research"! ;)

Which Polyhedral Are You?

2006-09-07T17:06:00.000+10:00

Because it's been so long since I did one of these things. And because this is irresistably geeky! ;)

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

"Ah, the d10! While you aren't actually a true regular polyhedron, you are the only die that makes logical sense--metrically speaking. Chances are, others see you as over-analytical or a goody-goody. While that may be true, you also have a gift for patience and tolerance. Growing up you probably had a calculator wristwatch that you never really needed to use (since you were faster on your own), and you probably aced all your classes (except for gym). You use the metric system almost exclusively, but are able to quickly convert in mid-conversation for the sake of your backwards Imperalist friends. You've coded in at least two different programming languages, and have created more original gaming systems than you'll ever admit. You're generally not a show-off, but you do take pride in being called either a geek or a nerd."

This survey is completely scientific. Despite the mind-boggling complexity of mankind, the billions of distinctly different personalities found on Earth can easily be divided into seven simple categories that correspond to the five Platonic solids, a pseudo polyhedron, and whatever the hell a d100 is. The results of this quiz should be considered not only meaningful but also infallible, and pertinent to your success as a fully realized individual. If you feel the results of this examination do not match your perceived personality, you should take whatever drastic measures are needed to cram your superego back into proper alignment, as described by the quiz results.

And if you believe that, we have some really great critical-hit insurance to sell you.

A Ramble on Steve Irwin

2006-09-05T11:33:00.000+10:00

It sounds like a bad joke: "Crocodile Hunter Killed by Stingray". Though he’s fabulously popular in the States, in Australia Steve Irwin has been a source of massive cultural cringe and a butt of jokes. I’ve already heard a few in particularly poor taste about his death – I even laughed at them. I am a bad person. :(

Now that he’s died after being stabbed through the heart by a stingray while filming a documentary, politicians and assorted others are lavishing praise on him, especially on his efforts on behalf of Queensland tourism. I did find it especially ironic to hear a Liberal party politician praise him for being such an outstanding conservationist. I wasn’t aware that was high on their list of priorities…

Anyway, Andrew Denton, one of the ABC’s most insightful interviewers, interviewed Steve Irwin on his show “Enough Rope” in 2003. You can find the transcript of the interview here. Denton introduced him as follows: “If you spliced the genes of Sir David Attenborough with those of the cartoon Tasmanian devil, you'd come up with something like my first guest.” That mental image made me smile.

There were a couple of things he said that I thought were the most interesting. One was on the fact that Australians generally do find him embarrassing. This was what he had to say about it:

Absolutely. I'm very embarrassing to look at. You know why? Here's why I'm embarrassing. Because there's a little bit of me in everybody. There really is, you know? I'm like the boy that never grew up. Um, I'm very, very passionate about what I do. I mean, I love what I do. I'm so... I wake up in the morning on fire. And people are like, "God, give this guy a Valium or something," you know? "Can't he have a bad day?" And...and I'm not. And I'm not. And I guess people...especially Australians, you know, they're so "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Stevo. Yeah, yeah, whatever," you know? You know, Australians are like that. They're very "Yeah, take it or leave it, whatever" type thing. "No, he's too hypo. Bloke's on fire," you know? Yeah, so I guess, um, that little bit of me in everybody kind of must be embarrassing, yeah.

I think he’s half hit the nail on the head – Australians are very laid back and found his full on way of speaking and acting a bit much. But I think it’s because he came across as a bad cultural stereotype. We all had a suspicion he was faking it, that it was a Crocodile Dundee style show to make money in the States.

But everyone that knew him has said he really was like that. He must have been an exhausting person to know!

What actually prompted me to look up the transcript of the interview, however, was all the conservationist talk. I vaguely remembered that he’d said something about that in the interview, and wanted to have another read of it.

Here’s what he said.

You know, easily the greatest threat to the wildlife globally is the destruction and annihilation of habitat. So I've gone, "Right, well, how do I fix that? Well, making a quid here. People are keen to give me money over there. I'll buy it. I'll buy habitat." And I reckon the only thing wrong... Now, how's this? The only thing wrong with, you know, wildlife in Australia is that I don't own it. Imagine how many kangaroos and crocodiles I could have if I owned Australia? It's, um... My wife is an American so she's got this, er... She's, um...you know, she's a good capitalist. And, er, she's very clever with money. Me, I'm not that clever and I don't really give a rip, but, er, she is. And, um, so whenever we get a...a, um...enough cash and enough...and a...and a chunk of land that we're passionate about, bang, we buy it.

What we're trying to do is we're trying to set an example to the world that, um, every single person can make a difference. Particularly those in the, um, in the political arena, um, those that have zoological facilities, any, you know, multinationals, any millionaires. They can all make a difference by buying chunks of land. And, in addition to that, every single person - man, woman and child, no matter what walk of life you're in, whether you're a, um, a fisherman, a janitor, um, Steve Irwin, the Croc Hunter - you can make a difference in wildlife by simply not purchasing wildlife products. Because today, Andrew, the wildlife perpetrators, they're hard to spot, mate. But what it is, these wildlife perpetrators now kill animals and call it 'sustainable use'. That, "Oh, let's kill crocs, turn them into belts and that's sustainable," you know? That isn't sustainable. Since when has killing wildlife saved anything? So, I'm a wildlife warrior through and through. And buying land means: A. that we're going to be able to get animals back if, and or when they become highly endangered; and B. getting out into the world, taking you, the audience, with me, having an adventure, and making it exciting. Otherwise, you're stuck with the demographics that, say, David Attenborough's got which is a bit smaller than what I got. And changing people's opinions on wildlife.

How's this? For the first time in history, mate, I've just been involved with an issue where people were worried about the welfare of a shark. How's that? For the first time in history. Yay! Astounding. Absolutely astounding. A tiger shark. And, um, admittedly the tiger shark was doing great. But her name was Bonnie...Bonnie. She was 14 foot. You know, I helped capture her and release her back into the wild. The first time in history! People are seeing crocodiles and snakes as...as animals that have welfare issues, which is fantastic.

So I believe if I can secure enough habitat, then there will always be places for the animals to go when they've been annihilated throughout their habitat. Because, basically, mate, the human population is going off. It's just a bit too rapid for the old Mother Earth to keep up with, mate. And, um, so this is my way of helping her out.

So even though I cringe when I see a picture of him in that “Crikey!” astonished-looking pose, I think this guy was alright after all.

At least he died out in the wilderness that he loved, I suppose. His family can take comfort in that.

Silent Hill: The Movie

2006-09-04T11:28:00.000+10:00

On Saturday, after Capital_Mum and Cthulu organised as babysitter for their little girl, they, myself and M. went to see the horror movie Silent Hill.

Based on the scariest series of computer games I have ever played, it’s the story of the mother of an adopted girl called Sharon who sleepwalks and has seizures where she screams out the name of the ghost town "Silent Hill"; her father wants her to be hospitalised, so her mother, Rose, flees with her to take her to Silent Hill, thinking that whatever Sharon’s trauma is, it can be resolved there.

Worst. Mistake. Ever.

Silent Hill is an abandoned town where everything is covered in a still-falling ash from underground coal fires that started 30 years ago, and where radios don’t work … except when things draw close. Best not to ask what sort of things.

I liked the movie adaptations of the game Resident Evil, and liked (with qualifications) the Tomb Raider movies too, but I LOVED this movie! It captured the creepy atmospherics of the game perfectly, and didn’t need to resort to things jumping out at you to scare you. Instead, it uses extremely vivid (and gory) details and juxtapositions of the most disturbing kind – the sort of thing you could expect to find in your most twisted be-tentacled Japanese anime. Psychological horror, I guess you could call it.

This is not a movie for anyone under 16. I’d almost go 18.

The only time I wasn’t able to suspend my disbelief during the whole thing was when the child actor who plays Sharon is in a scene where she has to do a bit of exposition – I sometimes find it hard to give child actors the credit that they probably deserve. But, mostly, she was very good too. Creepy little thing.

If you’re the sort who has nightmares after seeing a scary movie, don’t see this. Otherwise, it’s a must-see.

My WoW-Life Crisis

2006-08-31T16:42:00.000+10:00

This entire blog is me thinking “out loud” – as a lot of blogs seem to be. It therefore has no real story or point except letting me crystalise my thoughts.

It’s been seven or eight months now since I started playing World of Warcraft, and the game has eaten up a large chunk of my spare time. I have a night elf druid at 60, a night elf hunter at 48, and assorted other toons (aka characters) at levels below 30. I try to avoid thinking about how much time I’ve poured into this game, though I have a game mod that would let me add it up if I wanted to.

My druid, Swiftspring, is now at a level where I’m part of what’s called the “end game” – where the level caps and you generally stop the solo questing and minor group instances (aka dungeons); instead, you start to participate in huge 20 or 40 person raids into bigger and more complex instances where the wandering monsters take everyone to kill and the bosses require complex strategies – and, when killed, drop ZOMFGEPIX (epic) items of armour and weapons that have the potential to make your toon better.

I say “the potential”, because there are lots of character classes in the game, and not every bit of equipment is going to be suited to your character. Also, even if the item is perfect for you, you have to first win it over others of your class and/or other classes that can use the same item. For example, if an uber staff that does damage and healing drops (for example the Staff of Dominance from Molten Core), odds are that not only will my druid be interested, but so might the priests, warlocks and mages.

It can mean you do a lot of runs and get nothing for it. Your compensation is generally a better shot at getting the item in future (less competition, more points earned for attendance) and the fun of the run itself.

And that’s where my WoW-life crisis sets in. Because I’ve discovered (and this will not be a surprise to anyone, but it’s disappointed the hell out of me) that, the bigger the group of people you’re running around with, the statistically greater chance you have of encountering a dickhead. Or, worse, a group of dickheads who have banded together to look out for one another and make life hell for others who aren’t part of their little circle.

Myself and M. recently had cause to leave our old guild (aka group of people who get together to do instances) after a conflict that had been escalating for months exploded into nastiness. M. had discovered another guild that had just started up and was looking for other raiding toons (aka level 60 characters interested in end game instances) whose players weren’t dickheads. Sounded awesome, so we joined.

Of course, there’s no such thing as a group of people with no dickheads present, and even if there was, any method of communication that isn’t face to face has great scope for people to misunderstand one another. And it’s amazing how many people don’t actually ask for clarification or approach someone if they hear something that shocks them; they usually just bitch about it behind the person’s back. And that’s how these in-guild feuds start.

So. Having realised all of this, I figure that there may come a point soon where my patience runs out. At that point, I have three options.

One is to find another guild, but I am not very excited at the idea of developing a reputation for guild-hopping, because eventually no one will take you.

Another is to find another server – Blizzard offers a transfer service where you pay a fee (everything costs money) and they will transfer one of the toons on your account to another server. Yes, one – meaning I’d have to pay a silly amount to transfer all of them, or just pick a couple and then delete and recreate the rest (meaning all of the time I have spent on them would be lost). The advantage to this approach is that I can escape the baggage of my current server and never have to look at people who have pissed me off again, but the disadvantage is that there will inevitably be dickheads on the other server too (there always are). The other disadvantage, of course, is that the majority of people I’ve “met” on my current server are awesome, and I would lose touch with them too. :(

The third option, and the one I may ultimately go with, is that I hear the new D&D on line game has lower sized end game instances – 15 to 25 people rather than 20 to 40. The percentage of dickheads per group may be the same, but the actual occurrence should be lower.

Anyway. I haven’t decided to do any of these things yet. The difficulties so far in my new guild seem to be of the misunderstandings gone wrong variety (I hope) rather than the dickhead variety, and, again, most of them seem to be awesome and lots of fun to hang out and kill stuff with. Part of the problem is that M and I are the outsiders in a group of mates, and we really feel that way – but it’d be silly for me to pull the plug without actually giving it time for them to regard us as part of the gang.

Also, in November or so a World of Warcraft expansion pack is due to come out, called “The Burning Crusade”. It will increase the level cap to 70 (meaning weeks or more likely months of questing and leveling, which is the part of the game I enjoy the most on account of how I can do it solo or in a small group of people I like), and apparently the new level 70 instances will have a maximum raid size of 25.

I guess Blizzard have learned that groups of 40 aren’t really sustainable given the dickhead factor too. :\

Paperclip, You've Been Warned...

2006-08-28T18:24:00.000+10:00

You know you have been experiencing technical difficulties with Microsoft Office programs for too long when you start to contemplate grabbing a paperclip from the drawer, holding it up in front of the monitor, and slowly twisting and bending it till it is a deformed and broken mess… all in the hope of driving a point home regarding consequences to the bored looking "helper" paperclip that, well, isn't.

I'm just saying.

Hang the Information Highwayman!

2006-08-24T10:16:00.000+10:00

I was just Googling for the "Dr Seuss Technical Manual" poem that did the rounds on the internet a few years ago. I found out that it was a chopped up version of a poem called "A Child's Guide to Using Grandpa's Computer" by Gene Ziegler, which you can find here.

His reply poem to this theft (taken from that same link) tickled my fancy, so I am replicating it here for my own amusement. :) (In order to reduce the risk of earning a poem of my own, I must emphasise that I DIDN'T WRITE THIS! I am nowhere near that clever!)

When a party writes a poem and he puts it on the net,
He writes for love not money, and he takes what he can get.
He writes to bring you pleasure, that's the nature of the game.
He writes for recognition and he's sure to sign his name.
I wrote the poem in question, but this will make you laugh,
the version circulating, is my work cut in half!
Someone didn't like it, I guess that's a cinch.
It passed around the internet, until it met the Grinch.

I've never met the miscreant who edited my work,
but when I close my eyes and try, I can see the jerk!
The eyes are tiny pixels, close together you will find,
they're only separated by his narrow little mind.

His fingernails are dirty as he types on sticky keys,
He lurks around the network and takes whatever he sees.
He edits, chops, appropriates, and strips away my name,
A scoundrel on the internet, a lowdown dirty shame.

I'd like to find this filcher, so I'll offer this reward.
I'll give away my Mac SE, throw in the power cord.
If you will help me track him down and hang his internets
This information highwayman deserves what'er he gets.

An if we fail to find him, I'll hit him with a curse.
His hard disk will start spinning counter-clockwise in reverse.
His screen will start to flicker, and his mouse will chase a hearse.
I'll teach that hacking larcenist to tamper with my verse!

If you want to see my uncut work, take heart, it's still alive
It's in NetGuide, page eighty-six, for March of ninety-five.

So I did a new picture...

2006-08-23T10:26:00.000+10:00

The smaller view doesn't seem to do it justice though; people are complaining about imaginary black lines. :(

deviantART

2006-08-21T14:24:00.000+10:00

As well as the perennial neglect of my blog, I've also neglected my digital art in the past month. The last picture I completed, called Rhapsodie, I uploaded to my devantART account over a month ago, and I haven't done a new serious piece since.

You can see Rhapsodie here:

As an aside, the character is inspired by a low level warlock toon I have on World of Warcraft (which is, of course, the reason I've neglected my art - how pretentious does that sound? - in the first place!). I got her name from a jar of blueberry jam - it was the brand name, I think. I presume it's French. :)

In the past two months, however, I did have a very brief foray into the world of on line comics - again, all World of Warcraft inspired. I doubt I will do anymore of them at this stage, but if you're curious, you can see the series below:

Sheepish
Dragonslayer
Kingsblood

The Definition of Helplessness...

2006-08-15T09:50:00.000+10:00

… is a visually impaired person whose glasses get broken.

It's a truism from horror movies and "real world" fantasy novels the world over, and on the weekend I demonstrated that it was true when my glasses frame fell apart in my hands as I was cleaning the lenses.

I wasn't being particularly rough with the glasses; this is the second time those particular frames have broken on me (the first time they were replaced under warranty), and they are the first frames I've ever had break in my life. Sure, I've had lenses scratched in the playground when bullies stomp on my glasses, but I've never had them snap before.

Of course, this happened just as the shops closed on Saturday afternoon, and none of the optometrists or glasses stores are open on a Sunday. This meant two days of headaches because I was alternating between trying to see inside at night with prescription sunglasses on (big eyestrain) and trying to wear a really old pair of glasses I had whose script was so bad that I couldn't see clearly more than a foot in front of my head (also big eyestrain).

Fortunately yesterday an optometrist was able to solder the frame back together as a temporary fix, and I've ordered a new pair of frames that hopefully won't be as badly manufactured/designed/whatever as this pair is.

The whole experience was very traumatic. I will never laugh at comedy skits relating to people who can't see properly ever again. :(

Continental Shift

2006-08-03T16:26:00.000+10:00

Well, it’s finally happening.

More than six months after the original job offer (I originally blogged about it here, on 13th January), I am FINALLY leaving. Tomorrow is my last day in this job.

I know I said in the original blog that they were trying to organise a gradual moving away from this job, but quite frankly I never anticipated it’d be quite … this … gradual. I have seen continents shift faster than this process has been.

In fact, the interview panel I have been on over the past few days is actually for my current position, which feels sort of weird. At least I know the subject matter, I guess.

I expect I should feel nervous or something. Mostly I am just relieved. And dreading the inevitable calls for me to come back over here and help out – they aren’t likely to have a replacement doing my old job for a month, I’d say. I feel sorry for one of my colleagues, who is probably going to get dumped with most of my work as well as her own. It makes me feel guilty.

On the bright side I’ve had some very nice feedback from management as part of the exit process, about how awesome I am and how they hate to lose me but understand why I am leaving, blah blah blah. Some of it was so glowing I felt a bit uncomfortable; I am sure I squirmed like a little kid in my chair.

I wonder if I will receive a novelty size farewell card? Or if there will be a farewell morning tea or something? If there is, I hope I don’t cry. My previous supervisor cried when they had a surprise morning tea for her on her departure. I had to go and fetch tissues.

Wish me luck.

Job Application Dos and Do Nots

2006-07-25T15:13:00.000+10:00

In the past two or three years I’ve had call to be on various different interview panels. I’m on another one now, and I decided to put together a list of “dos and do nots” for writing job applications. Retrospectively my own job applications were poor – though not as poor as some I’ve seen – so maybe this will serve as a reminder to myself in the future.

All of these items are things I’ve seen done – even the more ridiculous ones.

• Correct spelling, punctuation and grammar are not optional. Even little things like “organization” with a z will irritate anal retentive Australians like myself after they’ve read 10 applications before yours.

• If you really feel it necessary to relate a story of where you’ve stuffed up badly (eg gone bankrupt) or found a problem in a place of work, for the love of god please explain what you learned from it, what you did to resolve it, and what successes you had in doing so. An example where you found a problem and did nothing to resolve it makes you look slack, not observant.

• It’s understandable that you’ve written lots of job applications lately, and I approve of recycling where possible, but make sure that it’s not blindingly obvious that you’ve done so. Printing an application for another position with no changes whatsoever, stapling pages for a second application to the back of the first one, using the same sentence in three different places (can we say “cut and paste”?) or leaving half a page of text that has nothing to do with what you’re meant to be addressing because you like it are examples of things not to do.

• Give examples. A one sentence statement saying you can do something isn’t generally very convincing.

• On the other hand, once you’ve been in the workforce for a while, it’s best to retire the examples that relate to school projects. Find better ones from when you were working.

• It’s generally best not to mention the time you spent on the witness stand in court – with the possible exception of jobs in the police force.

I am sure there are lots more but I can't think of them right now. Anyone else got any advice?

Nightmare Post Script

2006-07-14T11:37:00.000+10:00

As a post script to my previous blog, the fire alarm did actually go off this morning - once again a toast-related incident.

I didn't quite jump out of my skin but it did make me jump. The alarms here don't gradually ramp up over a few seconds - it's just BAM! it's on

And I had two different firemen compliment me independantly on my PA manner, so that part of my dream was true at least! This despite my rather embarrasing and unintentionally funny final announcement of, "The fire brigade have confirmed that the alarm heard was false. However, staff are asked to stay out of the basement for the next few minutes while the smoke clears."

As soon as the words came out of my mouth I knew it was a mistake! :P

... Had a WoW friend link a really funny web comic to me today. It's hi-larious - if you get a chance, check it out: Dr McNinja

Why Nerds Are Unpopular, and Me

2006-07-12T16:41:00.000+10:00

Mikey put me onto an essay by an American IT businessman and self-professed nerd, Paul Graham, called “Why Nerds Are Unpopular”. It took me a while to find time to read it, partly because I heard him and Cthulu talking about Graham’s statement that schools are basically prisons where we put teenagers till they reach an economically productive age, giving them useless facts and figures to memorise to keep them occupied.

This led me to imagine that the author must be an embittered ex-bully victim who was dwelling on and exaggerating the difficulties of high school beyond all proportion – this despite my intense dislike of my primary school and early to middle high school years.

But today I actually had time to read the essay, and I was really impressed. The prison metaphor works insofar as what you’re talking about is a bunch of people who are kept in one place for long periods of time in relative inactivity, where the authority figures (teachers / prison guards) try not to get too involved in the social hierarchy and let it sort itself out – with results that anyone who was bullied at school can readily recall.

I’ve read a couple of other essays by Paul Graham since this first one, and it has actually shaken me up a bit. I was bullied because I looked different (I had glasses in a school where that was uncommon); my response was to spend more time with books. I distinctly remember spending one lunch time in primary school putting the encyclopedias in alphabetical order rather than going outside. I think this actually turned me into a nerd (maybe later a geek) by default, because what else was I meant to do? The books were a form of escapism, and I could get praise from teachers by doing well to replace the affirmation by my peers that other kids got.

Graham hypothesises that most nerds become that way because they are smarter than the other kids. They tend to be distracted with weightier ideas (more adult ideas) than their peers, and because being popular is a LOT of work, they don’t devote the attention to it that it requires and as a result they flounder. They also realise that the situation they are in is dysfunctional and that schools are holding pens, and it makes them rebel.

I didn’t do that. I tried to conform as best I could with my D table peers (though I was E table material in years seven and eight), though I was never very good at it. I ostracised people who didn’t fit in with that group, like the new kids, and I tried to get good grades because I thought it meant something. If I was distracted by anything, it was by elaborate day-dreams, and the development of my emotional maturity was actually slower than that of my peers (I think), presumably because I had less exposure to them. It’s also why I am largely an introvert now.

I gather that Paul Graham is an ambitious person, and that’s not a quality I’ve ever had either. While they are quite interesting to read (and make me wish I could be a teenager again with all of my adult knowledge), those essays of his that I’ve read now make me feel like I wasted an awful lot of time at school and that maybe I wasn’t even the archetypal nerd that, till now, I thought I was.

Or maybe I am just suffering from a temporary case of inferiority complex, in which case I should get over it shortly. Certainly I am quite envious of this man and his essays – they are well thought out and well written, and show a capacity for critical thinking far in excess of my own.

Check them out and let me know what you think. The index of his essays is here. The other article I was particularly impressed with is here.

Ocean Views

2006-07-11T20:39:00.000+10:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was on leave last week. M and I went to the coast for three nights. We took our dogs with us - we found a place that allowed us to have pets, which was cool. And it was quite nice too - looked like a recently constructed house.

The beach in the picture is a place my family used to go when I was a kid. Turns out it's one of very few beaches in the area that allows dogs, so we took them there.

I love the beach - the smell as you come over the sand dunes and the ocean air hits you is awesome. And I love the sound of the waves. Not a real big swimmer though - got thoroughly dumped once when I was a teenager and inhaled half the Pacific.

Seems Tasha, our older dog, is the same. She ran up to the water - she loves water normally - and was checking it out when she saw a wave coming in and did the bolt. Hahaha! :)

Nightmare

2006-07-11T11:57:00.000+10:00

I had the most extraordinarily vivid nightmare on Sunday night.

To put it in context, it was my last night of a week's leave before returning to work, and in the last week I was at work we had a toast-related fire alarm that smoked out one of the floors pretty badly (he really burned the toast quite well).

In my dream, I was in my work building - only it was a mix of my current and previous places of work, as happens sometimes in dreams - and there was smoke on the floor that I was on. I ran down to the foyer to operate the fire panel (I am one of the boss-type fire wardens).

Very quickly things spun out of control. My PA manner was excellent (of course!), but the fire was madly out of control. Four of the floors were quickly engulfed in a raging inferno - I could tell because the lights went out on the panel (it doesn't work that way; another bit of artistic licence on the part of my subconscious) - and though I thought most of the people had evacuated I couldn't be sure. The fire brigade didn't show up and when I called I spent ages on hold - and then there was a very condescending person who turned up and told me that they were all off on a training day and weren't available. I grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

In the meantime, outside it had grown very dark and a sullen orange colour, like the colour of the sky as it was during the Canberra firestorm in January 03. Very creepy.

The warden intercom phone rang and it was a guy I know from work, on the floor below the one where the fire started. He started to talk to me about inanities and I yelled at him to get out, but I knew somehow that the stairwells were impassable and it was futile. I told him, "There might be some smoke". What was I meant to say?

Then as things got worse the phone rung again, and I heard the sounds of a roar and an explosion that sounded like a gunshot, and a woman screaming. It was very Silent Hill-esque.

That was when I woke up.

I figure the dream was general anxiety about returning to work and the shiteload of stuff I had waiting for me, but it's really stuck with me. Yesterday when I saw the guy who made that first phone call, I felt the overwhelming desire to be nice, though, and every time I hear a door shut in the vicinity of the fire doors on our floor I twitch.

I hope the alarms don't go off for the next few days or I will jump out of my skin.

Liberal Party Hypocricy? Surely Not!

2006-06-14T13:46:00.000+10:00

I've been having all sorts of flashbacks recently with the ACT's current difficult fiscal situation and the talk of closing 39 schools. You see, I went to three schools between primary school and the end of year 12, and all of them are now closed. (The uni I went to is still open, so my curse is ended.)

So I was a bit pissed when I read this article, which contains a "scathing attack" by Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop (who?) on the ACT government.

It goes as follows:

"It is a disgrace that parents and students and teachers were not notified that 39 schools are being closed in the ACT," she said. (Funny, I thought that's what we were talking about!)

"I want to know how Jon Stanhope intends to account to the Commonwealth taxpayers for the $7.5 million that's already been paid in recent months under our investing in schools programs, to schools he intends to close."

I have an inherrent suspicion at the figure quoted - politicians love to quote facts out of context. Was the $7.5 the total allocation to the ACT government? She's implying that was the share that went to the proposed closure schools. And even if it was, was it spent on essential maintenance to keep the schools open for another year? Salaries? Consumables such as paper, or cleaning? Would you suggest we dump all of that?

But what shits me more about that quote is that I remember being in high school when the local Liberal party was in government. They announced they were going to close schools but not which ones (hypocricy point number one).

And I had my experience, which I've blogged about before, of being personally lied to by Gary Humphries, a local government minister of the day. What was he lying about? The fact that a brand new computer lab in a school means that it has a better chance of not being closed on account of the associated capital expenditure.

How much did that lab - which wasn't teacher's salaries, consumables or building maintenance - cost, hmm?

Scrumple

2006-06-09T17:45:00.000+10:00

Is "scrumple" a word?

To scrumple a piece of paper is to screw it up into a ball.

I just looked it up on dictionary.com and it wasn't there! Maybe it was one of those words from my childhood that don't mean anything to most people?

Or maybe I am doped up on painkillers and am imagining things... :|

(I have a very sore back. We got a new IT system at work and it's not agreeing with me; the default resolution is really crappy. I might have to turn into one of the Chair People and get an OH&S assessment.)

Toilet Literature

2006-06-09T17:39:00.000+10:00

Recently whilst in another building at work I had call to visit the ladies room. This wouldn't be worth blogging about in and of itself, but there was a little poem on the back of the toilet that read as follows:

"If it's not clean
After you've been
Please use the brush
Then give it a flush"

The third line was in a font twice the size of everything else.

Anyway, this reminded me of another half-baked attempt at a poem with similar effect, which runs as follows:

"If you do number twos
Please use the brush provided
And CLEAN THE LOO"

So this got me to thinking about toilet literature - the stuff that is officially sanctioned by the toilet owner, rather than just graffiti. For example, the toilets closest to my workplace have emergency evacuation (haha!) instructions for if there is a fire. They are two years out of date, mind you...

And I know TechnoHorror was telling myself and Mikey about the website reading material he takes into his favourite toilet at work, leaving it in a holder on the back of the door for others to contemplate.

Anyone else have any other examples of toilet literature?

Shining Upon Man

2006-06-09T17:35:00.000+10:00

I was looking at one of my favourite name site the other day and on impulse I looked up my own name...

CASSANDRA
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Pronounced: ka-SAN-dra
From the Greek Κασσανδρα (Kassandra), which possibly meant "shining upon man", derived from κεκασμαι (kekasmai) "to shine" and ανηρ (aner) "man" (genitive ανδρος (andros)). In Greek myth Cassandra was a Trojan princess, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. She was given the gift of prophecy by Apollo, but when she spurned his advances he cursed her so nobody would believe her prophecies.

Which just goes to show that hell doth have fury like a woman scorned - the Ancient Greek gods were far worse!

I found it interesting because most name definition sites definte Cassandra as a "prophetess of doom" or something similar, which is of course not what it means but what it is associated with mythologically...

Yet Another Update Post

2006-05-31T14:01:00.000+10:00

I haven't updated for a while again, I know. I was going to post a rant about Guantanamo Bay inmates supposedly being fat happy Harry Potter readers after I heard a story on AM where a senator said just that, but Mikey did it for me (and far better than I ever could) after I mentioned it to him.

You can see his journal about it here: Gitmo is Great

In other news, I am quite chuffed, because the picture I posted at my previous entry was featured in a QC Prints Feature on deviantART (QC = Quality Control). It's nowhere near as good an exposure as getting a Daily Deviation would be, but it's good enough for me.

Now if only people would go out and by my prints! :P

Haven't done anything on Photoshop since then, though. I have spent all of my computer time on World of Warcraft - sad but true. I am going to go back and touch up at least one of my previously submitted bits of art, I decided last night, because since I got the Wacom tablet I can just do so much better work. Looking at the old stuff annoys me a bit now!

As far as WoW goes, I've started raiding in he past couple of weeks - that's when you get together as part of a group of 20 (or 40) like minded players to do the high end instances in the game. Because I am playing a restoration specced druid, I am one of the healers.

I'm also looking at leveling some or all of my other characters to give me some choices that actually inflict hurt on others; my choices are a warlock (Rhapsodie), a hunter (Evelyne) or a warrior (Cynamonn). I'll probably do all three on rotation to get the most out of rest bonuses... I just rolled up the hunter and she is a lot of fun to play. With M's help I got her the Rake, a rare spawn lion from one of the Horde starting areas, which is the fastest cat you can get for a pet till you get to the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale at level thirty-something.

Bemused yet? :P

As far as work goes, I went and did the higher paying temp position for the six weeks and am now back in my normal job. As far as the transfer at level to the new area goes, my boss has said that she'll consider it for the end of July, after the financial year crap is over. In the meantime, they are advertising my job as an expected vacancy, and I get to be on the interview panel! That's gonna be weird...

Ragdoll

2006-05-18T12:03:00.000+10:00

More Photoshop stuff. :)

Ugly Little Bald Man

2006-05-18T11:34:00.000+10:00

(It wasn't me that called him that, it was Rupert Murdoch!)

I got a bit outraged with a sound bite from John Howard this morning apologising profusely for the latest "bungle" (I hate that word) by the ebil Department of Defence in losing the CD that contained a draft report relating to the lost body of a dead soldier.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding was that Johnny was refusing to apologise for the stolen generation because he didn't actually do it personally, so it wasn't his fault.

Does that meant that he personally left that CD in the airport lounge's computer?

Just wondering...

Breathe

2006-05-12T10:50:00.000+10:00

My last Photoshop effort, from about a week ago. It does look better in a bigger size image - if I've done it right you should be able to click on the piccy to see a bigger one.

I have a couple of other ideas I am tossing around and will get to soon. I am going to try and do at least one of them over the weekend. :)

PS In the original pic her eyes were open. Can you tell?

Poker Machine

2006-05-12T10:43:00.000+10:00

I didn't listen to the budget reply speech last night (or even the original budget), on account of World of Warcraft commitments. ;)

But I did hear a sound bite on AM this morning that made me laugh:

KIM BEAZLEY: This Treasurer's like a poker machine: you put in, you pull the arm... nothing; you put in again, another pull... nothing. Time after time... nothing.

(sound of applause)

SPEAKER: Order.

KIM BEAZLEY: And then, at last, the lights flash, the bells ring, crowds gather round. "Jackpot!" the Treasurer crows. ... Ten bucks. That's the drop. Ten bucks!

Beautiful!

John Howard's Dirty Money

2006-05-10T08:53:00.000+10:00

So, John Howard and his sidekick Peter Costello have released next year's budget, coming (as expected) with a slew of tax cuts. I haven't looked at it in detail, but my reading of the news this morning is that I can expect an extra $10-15 a week... which may even be enough to cover the increased cost of the mortgage interest rates hike. Maybe. It won't cover the increased petrol prices as well though.

But the idea of taking the money leaves a bad taste in my mouth.* I can't get past the fact that I feel like John Howard has simply been lucky that he's in power during the commodities boom, and that he's using that good luck to bribe people into forgetting all of the horrific changes he's made since he got control of the Senate. Which is of course what he's doing.

I'd be happier if, instead of tax cuts, the money had been spent on more useful stuff to the community, like hospitals or child care. Even though I don't have children. But I guess that's what makes me a Labor voter instead of a Liberal voter - the fact that I think the government could do things that are good for the community with the money rather than slashing everything and giving money back to the taxpayer with a "well, now you can pay for the stuff we just took off you" mentality.

A demonstration of said mentality, from ABC News: "One of the best ways to help people with high petrol prices is to put money in their pockets," [John Howard] said. "Fiddling around with the excise or some sort of subsidy scheme on the commodity itself is not the answer. The answer is to put more money into people's pockets."

But perol subsidies would've helped, right? Instead of fiddling around with tax cuts?

Anyway... I heard Kim Beazley on the radio this morning saying he thought the Australian voter was smart enough to see through all the tax cut bribery and remember the crap this government has pulled since the last election (and before that). Wish I had his confidence; I didn't think they'd get elected last time.

It's all very depressing.

* And before someone comes out with a smarmy "well if you don't want to take the tax cut then don't" comment, that's not possible, is it? The system doesn't allow for that sort of contribution. I suppose I could run a few red lights over the course of the year and pay the money back to the government that way. Or, hey, buy petrol for my car and pay them in subsidies.

DING! =D

2006-05-08T13:32:00.000+10:00

Yesterday evening at about 5.30pm my Night Elf Druid in World of Warcraft, Swiftspring, hit level 60.

I went internally berserk! :)

Edit: Here's a picture of her, taken a few days later:

For those non-WoW players amongst my gentle readers (lol), blue hair and glowy eyes are normal for Night Elves. The little dragon is a pet, an emerald whelpling I found on the body of a dragon whelp I killed one time. :)

The cape and the shoulders are additions from after I got to 60.

Cottees Ad Cynicism

2006-04-26T15:52:00.000+10:00

How many of you remember the infuriatingly catchy jingle from Cottees Cordial that used to, um, jingle at us when we were kids?

"My dad picks the fruit that goes to Cottees to make the cordial that I like best!"

I remember we used to sing an alternate version in primary school - dad picked his nose to send it to Snotties instead...

I hadn't given this ad any thought in years - not until I saw the new and improved version of the ad. Turns out they've changed the jingle, and I found the change very telling:

"My mum adds the fun and the flavour that make the cordial that I like best!"

I figured that maybe someone had sued Cottees - some poor fruit grower out there who resented the implication that good fruit had gone into Cottees' sugar drinks. So I did a google search, and it turns out I was half right:

Trade Practices - misleading and deceptive conduct - labelling and packaging requirements

Cadbury Schweppes was found to have breached section 52 of the Trade Practices Act (TPA) by inadequately conveying that two Cottees cordial products did not contain the extracts of real fruit depicted pictorially on the packaging.

It was held that the pictured fruit and 'go bananas' logo on the 'banana mango' product was misleading, as it was likely to convey to some consumers that the cordial contained extracts of the fruit. The use of the phrase 'flavoured cordial' in smaller type than 'banana mango', either alone or in conjunction with the artificial appearance of the product, was not sufficient to dispel the impression of real fruit, as the technical meaning of that term was not likely to be understood by members of the public generally. The pictured kiwi fruits were also held to have been capable of conveying to a significant body of reasonable consumers a representation that the product concerned contained extracts of the real fruit depicted. It was held that Cadbury Schweppes had not taken sufficient steps in its labelling to overcome the effect of the pictures of fruit.

Hehe!

I also love this line from the judgement: "It must be said that the mangoes depicted are not readily recognisable as such, because substantial parts of their skins are shown as an orange colour, with which I am unfamiliar as a colour associated with mangoes."

Who said that judges don't have a sense of humour? :P

When the Music Stops

2006-04-24T22:00:00.000+10:00

I had my cat, Melody, put down today.

I'd had her for fifteen years. She was an impulse purchase on my mother's part, a couple of months before Christmas - her and I were looking at the kittens in the pet shop window and I suggested jokingly that she buy me a kitten for Christmas. To my shock, she did. This despite the fact that she is allergic to cats; it seems that she's not allergic to kittens, so she thought when she didn't react to Melody that that meant she would be ok with her.

Of course, it doesn't work that way, and when Melody got older mum started to react to her. So did I. Seems I inherited the allergies.

I can't remember why I called her Melody. But it suited her for the most part - a dainty, petite little thing. It didn't suit her personality so much though; when she miaowed it was really loud, and she figured out early on how to scratch glass or rattle screen doors to get a reaction.

Despite the fact I am allergic to cats, she used to sleep on the end of my bed. But once I bought my own place and moved out, my allergies got worse, and Melody decided that she preferred to be an outside cat - if I had her inside, she'd ignore the litter tray. Not pretty.

I think maybe she might have liked to continue sleeping on the end of my bed in winter, though. It gets cold at night in Canberra. And I think she might have liked more frequent scratches or cuddles ... on her terms of course. But if I did I'd suffer for it later. And she seemed happy enough outside.

Yesterday I went outside to emtpy the bin and I saw that she'd somehow managed to get her front left leg stuck through her collar. It was one of those ones with elastic so that if the cat catches it on something it stretches and they can get out. Instead, Melody seems to have tried to go through it rather than backing out of it.

When I took the collar off I saw the elastic had cut quite deeply into her skin under her leg. It smelled bad. She didn't seem to be in pain - she wasn't limping - but it didn't look good. I also noticed that despite the fact she was getting fed twice a day, she was awfully thin. That scared me almost as much as the cut, because it didn't make sense.

So I took her to the vet this morning. They said that with surgery and a long stay there (because I couldn't look after her inside while she was recovering, because of my allergies, she'd have had to board), it was treatable. But it seemed cruel to me to put her through all that, and then just chuck her back outside, into the cold. Where something else could happen to her, and because she's an outdoor cat, I might not notice for a day again, like this time.

So I decided to have her put down.

I feel rotten about it. I wish that things could've been different; that Melody could've continued to sleep on the end of my bed at night, and bask in the sun coming in the windows in winter (they face north and get good sun; ideal cat basking territory). I did try and get the allergies treated - weekly injections for a couple of years. It didn't help.

If there's a kitty heaven, I imagine it consists of a huge bed in a sunny window, lots of small animals to terrorise, and a bottomless bowl of cat food.

She'll love it there.

New Toy

2006-04-20T22:50:00.000+10:00

I used my new Wacom to do this:

Larger Image here.

It was MUCH easier to do his hair; I wouldn't have even attempted that with a mouse. Lots of fun! =D

Your Time Starts Now...

2006-04-20T13:38:00.000+10:00

Because Mikey did it in his blog and I am a sheep...

My earliest memory is ... watching my baby sister play in one of those bouncy things you hang from a door and being sad that I was too big to fit in it.

At school I ... was bullied relentlessly.

My first relationship was ... at university.

I don't like talking about ... the Camarilla, a club that I am in. I am burned out.

I wish I had never worn ... a particular hot pink set of pants and top that my mother loaned me. *shudder*

My mother always told me ... not to chew on plastic drinking straws. It didn't work, though.

I wish I had ... perfect vision.

I wish I hadn't ... applied for a position in the Camarilla.

My most humiliating moment was ... ... I can't narrow it down to just one.

My happiest moments were ... sitting on the beach down the coast. How could you not love that?

At home I cook ... a mean salad. Well, not exactly "cook"...

My last meal would be ... steak. Mmm.

My favourite gadget is ... my new Wacom tablet.

When I was a child I wanted to be ... a pop star.

The book that changed my life is ... ... there isn't one.

It's not fashionable but I love ... tabletop roleplaying with friends.

Perhaps I should have studied ... IT. I could be a rich contractor now.

What I don't find amusing is ... Seinfeld.

Friends say I'm ... a funny drunk.

If I wasn't me I'd like to be ... an inspired author.

At the moment I'm reading ... "Anansi Boys" by Neil Gaiman. I started reading it but I am not a fan so far, strangely enough.

My favourite work of art is ... again, couldn't pick just one. I have a dA account so I am looking at new art every day.

I often wonder ... if I can go home and play World of Warcraft yet.

Turning Old...

2006-04-18T13:31:00.000+10:00

Today is my birthday. And not just any birthday, but my 30th. :(

I had a good weekend though, and guess what M. and my awesome friends got me? A Wacom tablet! Whee!! I am planning to spend the afternoon figuring out how to work it! Expect to see some half assed attempts coming soon!

I also got a new fridge. That was a present from the fine folks at Visa (who I have to pay back), because the old one wasn't working anymore. I couldn't really afford it, but it had to be done, I guess. Sigh.

Next two big purchases will be a new monitor, and a new digital camera. I went to a medieval wedding last weekend and I got some great photos, composition-wise, but because I had to have the camera on full zoom to get them, they are slightly pixelated. It made me really cranky, so I am going to have to just give in to the inevitable. M. is recommending a Canon digital SLR - it'll probably have to be second hand, though. Stupid fridge!

Easter Bunny Birthday

2006-04-06T10:49:00.000+10:00

I was born on Easter Sunday. I remember hearing once when I was a kid that you can expect your birthday to recurr on the same day every seven years (presumably that's a purely seven-day-of-the-week guess "statistic").

By the time I was eight I was starting to wonder if my parents had gotten it wrong and I wasn't born on Easter Sunday, because it hadn't recurred. At that age I didn't understand the arcane method of determining when Easter falls (it's the Sunday following the first full moon after March 20th).

I found a website today that lists the dates of every Easter Sunday from 2000 to 2099.

It turns out I can next expect an Easter Sunday birthday for myself in the year 2049, and then in 2055 and 2060.

Woot!

"The Adventure of Two Dingo"

2006-03-30T13:32:00.000+11:00

Just heard the foreign minister being simultaneously offended and dismissive of an Indonesian cartoon portraying him and John Howard fornicating in dingo form, and I was so curious I had to go looking for it...

(From news.com.au)

This piece of low brow satire (whose ability to invoke discomfort in its subjects makes me smile just a little bit) has been prompted by Australia accepting the asylum claims of refugees from Papua, offending the Indonesian government. You can read an ABC article about it here. I do feel sorry for the single Papuan who was sent home, though... conspiracy theorists in Indonesia are apparently suggesting that he's an Australian spy.

If he didn't deserve refugee status before, that single claim ought to get that decision reversed on the spot because I think he just became a target.

The other thing that bothers me about the government's conduct in this is that their public statements in no way seem to condone the decision by the Immigration Department to grant those people asylum in the first place. They are very much taking a "sorry, that's our law, it's not our fault" line. I suppose in a way they have to for diplomacy reasons, but I wish that, having actually done the right thing with regard to a group of refugees, they'd stand up for the decision a little bit...

Stanhope Tells It Like It Is

2006-03-30T09:01:00.000+11:00

I love John Stanhope. A politician who'll get his kit off and dive into a dam to save a drowning helicopter pilot. A politician who puts draft legislation on his website so everyone can read it when the government doesn't want its contents known.

He made me smile again today with a quote on the issue of civil unions. The ACT Government is planning to introduce legislation later this year to give gays and lesbians who get a civil union the same legal rights as a married couple, thereby removing descrimination.

Phillip Ruddock (who is (allegedly) a right wing bastard) has come out on behalf of the federal government today and said that if Stanhope does so, then the Commonwealth will move to block it because that threatens the (holy sanctity of the) Marriage Act, which is Commonwealth turf. He also said that it was misleading to the (poor misguided) gays and lesbians, who might actually believe that what they have is a marriage! Gasp!

Ruddock will stop this (godless) legislation by either amending said Marriage Act or, even more offensively to my mind, using the Territories Act to screw the ACT specifically.

John Stanhope's quote in response to all of this, which made me grin from ear to ear in my heathen and godless way, is:

"Mr Ruddock needs to be asked, what is his real concern about the ACT legislation? What is his real concern about my commitment to remove discrimination and to show respect to same-sex relationships? One has to pose the question of whether or not the real reason is that there is no place in John Howard's Australia for homosexuals."

Tellin' it like it is! :)

(ABC news article here.)

The Fool

2006-03-27T16:21:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since I've done anything in Photoshop (damn WoW); this was the last piece I uploaded to my dA account, back on 12 March.

Larger Image here.

Woo Update

2006-03-27T16:08:00.000+11:00

I mentioned a while back that I'd been offered a transfer into a section which has more upward mobility prospects than than the one I am in now.

Things have slowly progressed, and I'm at the point where as of next week I am going over there for six weeks. For the last five of those six weeks, I will be filling in for someone while they are on leave, with the commensurate increase in pay.

My boss here has said she's only happy for me to go for the six weeks at first because that way I can come back here and decide whether I was happy there before making the decision to move permanently. It's probably not a bad idea, though I suspect that she's more hoping that my change-averse nature kicks in and I decide I hate it based on that alone so that I don't actually leave...

My biggest worry is that there is, as I predicted, no one to fill in for most of my work over here. So I probably will end up doing one and a half jobs (maybe one and three quarters) and it's going to be really stressful! :(

Strange Compliment

2006-03-27T15:58:00.000+11:00

The other day someome told me that they love my handwriting and that it always makes them smile.

Apparently it has something to do with the way I do a o above my i and j rather than a . ...

I think it's just about the most off the wall compliment I have ever been paid!

Army Barbies

2006-03-09T15:47:00.000+11:00

Wanna buy an Army Barbie for your patriotic little American daughter to mutilate? Can do!

Salute Sergeant Barbie! Barbie wears authentic desert battle dress uniform of camouflage material, like those worn in Desert Strom campaign. You can tell by the insignia on her maroon beret that Sergeant Barbie is a medic, and ready for duty with two medical cases! A proud and patriotic American serving her county wherever she is needed.

Barbie even comes in two different colours!

White Barbie

Black Barbie

How much?

Well, white Barbie is $28.50. Black Barbie was $26.00 but is now $10.99!

... I am not sure what the discrepancy in price is all about - the site is selling boxed Barbies so you'd assume black Barbie has more wear and tear. The part that confuses me is that they have an unlimited number of white Barbies and only one black Barbie ... so surely black Barbie would be more of a collector's item?

I am sure that the company would argue that it's the economy of supply and demand... :|

Vanity not so fair...

2006-03-08T13:21:00.000+11:00

Is it vain of me to be contemplating booking a hairdresser appointment prior to going to the government shopfront to get my licence renewed?

It's probably futile, given that it's statistically impossible to look good in any passport style photo.

Amanda Vanstone, Conspiracy Theorist

2006-03-07T12:21:00.000+11:00

Another AM golden moment, this time from last Thursday. It's taken the ABC people till now to upload the March transcripts to archives, or I would've posted it sooner (usually they have them up the next day)...

The subject of the conversation was the fact that we're planning on playing our national anthem rather than "God Save the Queen" during the opening of the Commonwealth games, and that a lot of people see this as a snub to the queen, who will be there. Amanda Vanstone is a big L Liberal but also (surprisingly to me) a republican. Here was the bit of conversation that made my eyebrows fly up into my hair somewhere:

MELANIE CHRISTIANSEN: Why do you think the people organising the Commonwealth Games have decided not to play 'God Save the Queen'?

AMANDA VANSTONE: Well, I have to say, I'm a bit suspicious. I'm a bit suspicious because Australia voted no to becoming a Republic. In other words, they voted to retain a foreign monarch, and therefore you'd think would want to show due respect on one of her rare visits to Australia.

So the only reason I can think for not doing so is because the Games organisers realise that to a large crowd of Australians it will seem quite anachronistic, people will think, "Well, what's going on here? Oh, heaven's above, yes, we really do have an English Queen as the Queen of Australia!" and that would jar with some Australians.

Go Amanda! You wacky conspiracy theorist.

It's probably true though... :|

The full transcript is here.

Noooooo... sobs

2006-03-06T17:52:00.000+11:00

I just checked the mail, as you do when you get home, and found two envelopes from Urban Services. "Uh oh," I thought. I have just renewed my rego for the car, so I was expecting one envelope, but what could the second be? Had I accidentally earned myself a speeding fine?

Nope.

It's my licence renewal paperwork! :(

Where I live the licences are renewed every five years, so this is the first sign of the impending 30th birthday.

I don't want to have to renew my licence. The picture on the old one is better. I was 25 then!

Damnit.

Love Song Dedications for Lil Johnny

2006-03-01T08:25:00.000+11:00

It's the 10th anniversary of Lil Johnny (long may he rule us) coming to power, and on the local ABC AM radio station, 666, played a song that they said was a dedication request to him, by someone called P. Costello. The song was "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds:

Don't you forget about me
Don't don't don't don't
Don't you forget about me

Will you stand above me?
Look my way, never love me
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down

Will you recognise me?
Call my name or walk on by
Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling
Down, down, down, down

By strange coincidence, I was thinking not too long before they played this that the song from the Australian voters to John Howard is "Better the Devil You Know" by Kylie Minogue:

I'll forgive and forget
If you say you'll never go
'Cos it's true what they say
It's better the devil you know

Our love wasn't perfect I know
I think I know the score
If you say you love me, oh boy
I can't ask for more
I'll come if you should call

I'll be here every day
Waiting for your love to show
Yes it's true what they say
It's better the devil you know

Now I am even more depressed - ten years combined with early Kylie pop in my head. So I thought I would share the pain with everyone else! :)

"Guilty Even If Not Proven Guilty": Ruddock

2006-02-28T09:35:00.000+11:00

I was listening to AM yesterday on the drive to work, as is my wont, and I heard a quote from Phillip Ruddock yesterday that simply astonished me. He was referring to a guy called Jack Thomas, who was found innocent of two serious terrorist charges, but guilty of two more minor ones, of receiving funds from a terrorist organisation and of making fraudulent changes to his passport.

Seems that even though a man has been proven guilty, he's hinting that it's only because our legal system is too stringent, and he's guilty as sin.

Judge for yourself:

"The fact (is) that in relation to our legal system there is a very high burden of proof that has to be satisfied to achieve convictions and sometimes, even though people have been committed for trial on the basis that there is sufficient evidence to convict, juries find that on the balance, that they have to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that they wouldn't convict."

and

"But… and the important point to understand in the context of our law is that people aren't put to their trial unless a magistrate - in this case a magistrate did judge that there was sufficient evidence to convict of all of the offences.

"And the fact that a jury comes to review that on the test that has to be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that they don't convict, ought not to be seen as some form of victory. This isn't a victory issue. This is an issue of protecting the Australian community, and terrorist offences are very serious offences."

WTF?

Well, Here I Am...

2006-02-28T09:32:00.000+11:00

Morton told me last week I never update my blog anymore. *Jubal Early voice* Well, here I am ...

Being home from work during the week is far less fun when you have a cold. The coughing, the runny nose (went through an entire box of tissues in less than 48 hours), the back and head pain... blah. Hate it. But I am back at work now, still coughing a bit but nowhere as bad as I was last week. Seems that since the bout of pneumonia, I am more susceptible to lung stuff. How is that fair?

Not much other news. Work is work. My main character on World of Warcraft, the Night Elf Druid (shape changer), is level 38 and I am desperately trying to get the gold together so that when I hit 40 I can buy a mount (night elves get these really cool overgrown white sabre tooth cats). There are websites where you can actually buy (IRL) gold (in the game) - Morton did that for me and M when we first started playing, bless his socks! But I don't really want to do that.

My friends would mock me if I did. :|

I think my sister has decided she's less interested in roleplaying - she doesn't like supernatural movies and stuff very much. Not sure if they scare her or what it is, but when I told her the game we play is vampires, she cringed. Maybe it's just the geek factor putting her off! ;) I think if she did take up roleplaying it'd have to be a D20 Modern style thing - more real world. That's the sort of stuff she prefers.

We were going to go to the Canberra Show last weekend, but what with the sick and the expensive, we didn't end up doing it. Am a bit jealous of Capital Mum's cool flourescent hair extensions, which she got there, but I can live! :)

Latest Photoshop effort:

(Larger version here.)

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

2006-02-07T18:58:00.000+11:00

(I can't claim credit for writing these.)

Mal: Because the other side of the road was the only place it could live life on its own terms, without being meddled with.

Zoë: Because that's where the job was, Sir.

Wash: It followed a really hot girl chicken that could kill it with its pinky. Do chickens have pinkies? No? Well, I don’t know then.

Jayne: The money was better over there. (mutters) Lousy seven percent...

Kaylee: To meet shiny new chickens and see the sights.

Simon: That's where the Alliance was hiding its sister.

River: To get to the other side.

Inara: It just suddenly, for no apparent reason, decided to pick up and abandon the luxurious life it had on this side of the road. That's not odd, is it?

Book: It was a pilgrimage. Wracked with guilt over the atrocities it had committed, the chicken decided to devote the remainder of its life to God in a desperate search for redemption. Just a guess.

Jubal: That ain't no chicken.

YoSafBrige: Because you were over there, sweetie.

The Operative: The chicken's motivations are not my concern. Getting it across the road is.

The Weirdness...

2006-02-07T12:01:00.000+11:00

I forgot to add. My sister (who still lives with my parents) has started showing an interest in understanding what this whole roleplaying business I've been into for ten years is all about. I am probably going to go visit her next weekend with some White Wolf books for her to have a look at.

Given my love-hate relationship with White Wolf products and the Camarilla in general (I am a burned out and bitter old Cammie who still enjoys the games but hates the crap that goes with them), this fills me with a mixture of dread and ... something less than dread but not on the positive side of the ledger.

But K (lil sis) is painfully shy; she only ever really vaguely socialised with the people she worked with, and doesn't seem to have any really good friends in Canberra (she has lots of email and pen friends though). So if I could actually get her to come to games and get into it, it'd be good for her; I found I really came out of my shell once I started to do drama at school and then LARP, and it'd be good to increase her social circle too.

The only other worry I have (other than her thinking it's all too weird and changing her mind) is that she's a good looking young woman (she's 28) - definitely more physically attractive than me, curse her! - and given some of the desperates that come to Cam sessions, I might have to beat them off her with a stick!

Update

2006-02-07T11:15:00.000+11:00

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks (more?) since I posted on this thing. A lot of that is the fault of work - it's been crazy-busy lately - and most of the rest is the fault of World of Warcraft. The Camarilla (live action roleplaying club) and a small amount of Photoshop (I have only done one pic) are most of the rest.

I agree with TechnoHorror - there'd be much more time to do stuff I like if it weren't for work. *sniffles*

Here's a dot point list of recent events:

Australia Day: It was M's birthday on Australia Day (that's 26th January for you non-Aussies). He got a public holiday. Inkling and TechnoHorror were kind enough to host a BBQ for lunch because we don't own one. It was tops - public holiday, sunshine, food, the Hottest 100 and yummy Transformers cake. I got M some sheepskin carseat covers for his car, as well as a Lego Ferrari. Got many brownie points for the latter, slightly less but still approval of the former! :)

Cancon: We had a nerd-fest roleplaying convention on the long weekend after Australia Day (which was a public holiday). I went to three different Camarilla sessions, one each day. M. actually ran all three so he was buggered by the end of it.

I did buy the "Serenity" RPG book while I was there, which brings me to my next point...

Serenity RPG: A very interesting read, and now I am thinking of running a game for my friends. I've got six people expressing an interest to play, with varying amounts of enthusiasm. (One person has already done multiple sheets, I'm told!) I am a bit intimidated by the idea of running a game because it's been almost 10 years since I last ran tabletop (and about 3 since I ran LARP). Anyone who isn't Mikey, Inkling or TechnoHorror who has ideas for cool plots should let me know! :)

World of Warcraft: Last weekend we played World of Warcraft all weekend. *blush* Damn addictive game! My characters are:

Server - Windrunner
Character - Tauren Hunter "Nightpelt", level 14 (I think)

Server - Proudmoore
Character - Night Elf Druid "Swiftspring", level 28
Character - Gnome Warrior "Cynnamon", level 15

Job stuff: As far as the new job offer goes, the current boss and the boss of the area that want to steal me have agreed that I can go over there for six weeks to fill a higher level position, and that before that, for an unspecified amount of time there will be a "transition period". Don't know what that will involve. As far as moving over there permanently, the boss here hasn't agreed to that yet. He thinks I should hold out for them to offer me more money (as opposed to the same money). Unfortunately, he can actually block me from moving over there if it's the same money, and I don't want to burn my bridges... :( I will have to just wait and see.

On the bright side I made a joke to him about the guys here offering me more money to stay, and his response was, "It's not out of the realms of possibility." That'd be sweet! :)

Work itself has been crappy. Very busy, lots of stress because of jobs where I have a deadline set by others, but need info from others who seem to think that deadlines are flexible.

Photoshop: My muse may not have left me but she's certainly on go-slow mode, sitting in the sun on a beach somewhere and drinking cocktails with umbrellas in them. I am getting frustrated at the limitations using a mouse inflicts on me as far as digital painting goes. I told M he should look at getting me a graphics tablet for my birthday, but it really depends how expensive they are.

I'd also love a digita SLR camera, but I know that ain't gonna happen.

If you're curious the pic I did is this one:

(Larger version here.)

Politics: Better add in something informed about current debate. I find the current rift between the Libs and the Nationals to be hilarious, and the horrified denials about AWB from the government to be extremely suspicious (what's that expression that covers a person who instructs someone not to tell them something, so they can deny that they knew about it later? Mental blank).

And Tony Abbott (Health Minister) shouldn't be talking about his own personal morals when dealing with what should be a scientific issue concerning whether a drug is safe or not.

Learning to Fly

2006-01-16T16:10:00.000+11:00

When I was a kid, I used to have a lot of flying dreams. But I wasn't a very good flier; I'd have to flap my arms frantically to maintain any altitude. I'd fly somewhere (I remember trying to perch on the powerlines near my place like a bird) and then be scared of falling because I didn't know if I'd be able to fly or not. I would also have to resort to tricks, like bouncing off wire fences, to get airborne in the first place.

As I got older, I got to be a better flier. I'd just hold my arms out at my sides and fly. Usually, I would only fly in a dream if I was in a situation that required it. Often, that would mean I'd be dreaming of some disaster, such as an exploding volcano filling the area I lived in with lava, or people trying to catch me to lock me up (to study me to figure out why I could fly). The worst part of that is that I'd only be able to save a couple of people from the disaster, and carrying two people would make it harder to fly.

I don't dream of flying so much anymore. But I am very proud of myself that I taught myself to fly in my dreams.

They're Pitching Woo!

2006-01-13T09:22:00.000+11:00

"And they're wooing me! They're pitching woo!" - Willow, BtVS (Bad Girls)

I've had a few job offers over the past few months. I am doing a finance position, and I've had offers to come to other areas to do their financial management, asseting, auditing, and even contracting. None of them have involved a pay rise, just a transfer at the same pay rate, so because I am happy where I am working now I've always said no.

But I had a phone call on Wednesday with a new version of the same offer (ie transfer at level), and I think this time I am going to take it. It's in an area where I'd be the assistant to people who manage budgets at an organisation level, basically understudying them with the understanding that when any of them go on leave I could temporarily fill their positions (which is the part where there'd be more money!). It also means that when any of them leave I'd be in a very good position to apply for their job because I'd already have the skills.

It's a good offer, and the best part is that because it's a transfer at level I don't have to do an interview or anything! :)

The only thing is that the people making the offer don't want to offend the people I work for now, so they are trying to negotate some sort of gradual moving away from this job (I don't want to sound like I am blowing wind up my butt but if I just dropped everything and left there's no one that could do my job). That means I could end up being here two or three days a week, and there for the rest.

I am also happy to do that - I am a change averse sort of person so the gradual thing appeals to my turtle-like nature - but it might be a bit hard if I end up getting stuck with the work of two full time jobs.

It'll be interesting...

Oh, and while I am at it, what is it with men that drive big black V8 cars with spoilers on the back thinking that they own the road and that road rage is an acceptable part of driving? Like indicating? Or - here's a thought - speed limits?!

Nuff said.

My Shiny New Obsession

2006-01-09T13:29:00.000+11:00

Bloody Morton Fogg, I shake my fist at you!

It's my first day back at work and I am pining because I want to be at home on my computer. That is because dear Morton talked me into a mild curiosity about "World of Warcraft", an on line game I swore I'd never buy on account of how you have to pay a monthly $15 US fee to play it.

M., also curious, downloaded some examples of gameplay off the net, and suddenly we'd bought two copies of the game (because we need a seperate licence code each to play), and an additional two months subscription each. Money I couldn't afford because of my previous air conditioner purchase.

It is sooooo adictive. *twitch*

On the bright side, we did have the opportunity last night to "meet" Morton, in the form of a white bald man in a dress. :D

But the worst part of all of this is that I got the game two days before my leave ended. :(

Harry Potter Love Match Meme

2006-01-04T14:48:00.000+11:00

Did it out of curiosity:

You are looking for someone sweet, intelligent, and understanding. Although he may have big troubles to overcome, with you by his side this wolfman will at least have a non-judgmental, loving romance.

Who is your Harry Potter love match? (for girls)
brought to you by Quizilla

Lupin is cool. But I am just glad that I didn't get one of the kids!

Too Friggin Hot...

2006-01-01T20:37:00.000+11:00

I think I'm dyin' here...

Today it got to 39oC (that's almost 103o Fahrenheit), and, worse, it spattered rain and now it's humid like the inside of a footballer's jockstrap after a game.

A couple of days ago we got so shitty with the heat (I was getting headaches and felt like I was wasting my holidays in a haze of painkillers) that we went to Harvey Norman and bought a portable airconditioner for a not-so-cheap $800. It's done something to reduce the temperature inside the house, but not to the point that I will be doing cartwheels or, you know, walking around much.

It's meant to cool down tomorrow, thank goodness.

It has been cool enough that I was able to work on Photoshop again. Ironically the picture I did was for a deviantART contest whose theme is "Ice and Snow" - there are a lot of winter theme contests running at the moment because that's the season in the northern hemisphere.

I did one I called "Lady Winter":

(Larger version here.)

Geez I wish I could sit my ass down on a snow covered mountain right now! ;)

Oh, and Happy New Year to everybody. M. and I went out to a friend's place for a BBQ and party type arrangement. It was good; hilarity but with no barfing or anything.

Of course, at 3am some stupid and very pissed teenagers who'd managed to wander away from their party and get lost started an argument on our neighbour's driveway. M. went out with phone in hand and sent them on their merry way by a liberal application of the word "cops". Yay!

The Odds are Not So Good

2005-12-29T13:13:00.000+11:00

While we were waiting for the courtesy bus (which never showed up) at the seedy RSL next to the hotel where we were staying in Sydney, I founds that the NSW government has produced these handy fliers that give you the odds of winning the jackpot in a number of different games.

I nicked one - the most important bits are reproduced here for your edification:

Instant Scratchies - 1 in 960,000
6 from 38 pools - 1 in 2,760,681
Lotto Strike - 1 in 3,258,024
$5 Jackpot Lottery - 1 in 4,500,000
NSW Lotto - 1 in 7,059,052
Oz Lotto - 1 in 8,145,060
Keno - 1 in 8,911,711
$2 Jackpot Lottery - 1 in 11,800,000
Poker Machines - 1 in 52,500,000
Powerball - 1 in 54,979,155

Christmas and Boxing Days

2005-12-29T13:03:00.000+11:00

On Sunday M and I went to my parents' house for a nice cosy lunch with them, my sister, both of my grandmothers, my three uncles, my cousin and one of my uncles' partners.

Uh huh.

There was much of the exchanging of gifts and the eating of the food. I felt guilty about the food the next day. Hell, I still feel guilty about it!

The present that wins the prize for me was from M - he got me the three Serentiy comics (they are set between the end of "Firefly" and the start of the "Serenity" movie); the entire Serenity collecters card set; and, best of all, an official memorabilia thingy of the movie which is a piece of Mal's brown cotton shirt. Squee! :D

Anyway, I discovered I still don't like my uncle's partner, R. She's got the tact of a hammer when impacted on a thumb; I think she does it deliberately to get a rise out of people. Fortunately they live down the coast so I don't have to see her more than once every few years. I also discovered that that same uncle has turned into an old man since the last time I saw him - he spent a great deal of time telling me how the internet and mobile phones were evil. It was a bit bizarre; he's my dad's younger brother and I remember him being the hip one when I was a teenager.

And my cousin (who is about 8) has grown a mullet. :(

On Boxing Day ... more food! What a surprise! This time a BBQ at P's house. TechnoHorror and CapitalMum were there (and Baby Bob), as well as M and L. Again, the food was good. And P has airconditioning in his house. I approve on all fronts.

The day after M and I went to Woden to spend all of the vouchers we were given (he scored big time there; $180 total compared to my paltry $30). And since them we've been playing Warcraft 3 networked. A lot.

Until today, that is, when M's PC got attacked by the bitch virus queen from hell. He's trying to get the data off it so he can reformat as I write this. I got all motivated to update my virus checker, but it turns out the new version needs Windows 2000 or XP and I currently still have 98. Doh!

Sydney Trip

2005-12-29T12:52:00.000+11:00

It's been a while since I've updated this thing - what can I say, the silly season got the better of me. I also haven't watched the news in about a week so I am feeling very out of touch with the world.

A brief splat on what we've been up to (I'll do one blog post for each event, I figure)...

On 22st December M. and I drove up to Sydney for a two night visit. The primary reason was to go to M's grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party on the Friday night (23rd), but we also caught up with some of Matt's friends, and various other family members.

Probably the most fun I had was over at the house of one of M's Socom buddies; we had a yummy barbeque and then all sat around and played poker, and a PS2 game called "Buzz". It's a music trivia game but has a game show format - you choose your contestant and then participate in a bunch of different kitchy games. It was fun though I came 3rd (out of 4) in both games we played. I was good at the part of the game where there's no time pressure to answer the questions but once we had the clock ticking I'd get flattened.

The anniversary itself was nice. They had a replica of the original wedding cake, and after they cut it they danced a waltz together. (Aww.) I had only met a few of the people there before, so it was a bit overwhelming, but I ran around with mum's very nice camera taking photos which was fun. I even danced a bit, which only served to remind me of how out of shape I am. M. wouldn't dance with me! :(

It was all very exhausting, and Sydney was very very hot. We tried to go to Paddy's markets in the morning on the 23rd, but it was closed! :(

When we got back I discovered that gummy lollies in a bag in a really hot car turn to liquid. Fortunately when the back of the bag split open the hot goo that was the lollies sealed it again straight away. :|

Another Meme...

2005-12-16T22:43:00.000+11:00

... but I am listening to my shiny new Firefly soundtrack (it's scary how many of these scores I can name the episode for without looking!), and I was in the mood.

Wash

Which Firefly Guy is For You?
brought to you by Quizilla

And here's a quiz for the guys...

Which mythical creature resides in your soul?

2005-12-15T19:11:00.000+11:00

ELF

You are an elf. An elf is like a
human but much fairer and pure. Elves are
usually tall, with pointed ears, and resemble
humans very closely, but elves are usually much
more beautiful. Elves are a distant race. They
prefer to keep to themselves, because often,
many of them feel that their race is superior
to humans. Elves symbolize wisdom, prudence,
love, and hope. They are very merry and happy.
They are forever young and delight in music.
They are natural artists as well.

Which mythical creature resides in your soul? (11 Results + Pictures)
brought to you by Quizilla

M. got a dragon.

I want a dragon. :(

:(

2005-12-14T20:32:00.000+11:00

(Sorry for the incoherent post - I had to take codeine (sp?) tablets for a headache and I am sort of stoned at the moment... )

My sister called earlier today to tell me that they had to put the family dog, Tara, down. She had been having back problems for the past week - she couldn't walk some of the time (she'd collapse) and started to lose control over her bowels. They weren't 100% sure of what the problem was.

The vet said that they had the choice between keeping her locked in a cage for six weeks on pain meds (without any guarantee that it'd make a difference), spend $3,500 on exploratory surgery, or put her down. So that's what they did. I can understand why - as much as it pains me to say it I couldn't afford that sort of money for an operation for Jinx or Tasha either.

Am very sad about Tara. I lived with my parents till 2001, so she was my dog too; she used to sleep on the end of my bed every night, and even after I moved out she still slept on the bed. Only dog I knew with a room of her own.

Gonna go give my puppies another hug now.

Yes, Milord?

2005-12-12T22:27:00.000+11:00

"My blood cries out for vengeance of my people's blood, which can only be repaid with at least twice as much blood! Or maybe THREE times as much blood! Like, if you went to hell, and it was full of blood, and that blood was on fire, and it was raining blood, then maybe THAT would be enough blood! Eh.. but probably not."

(Larger version...)

Trust in Wiki...

2005-12-12T21:01:00.000+11:00

... for it will never lead you astray.

I spent twenty minutes googling to try and find a page that lists all the quotes from Warcraft III (which I have been playing obsessively) to try and find a cool name for the orc photomanip I have been doing for the past two days. Finally it was wiki that came up with the goods. (I didn't even know there was a wikiquote.com!)

You can find the page here.

I think the human sorceress has the best geek quotes:

* "Let's chat on Battle.Net sometime."
* "Click me baby, one more time."
* "I don't remember casting Slow on you."
* "For the End of the World spell, press Control, Alt, Delete."

A Spiritwalker quote for Capital_Mum:

* "Fear my moo of fury! MOO!"

Quotes from the Blademaster (an orc hero) also had me giggling:

* "My blade can cut through armour, and still cut a tomato!"
* "Twin blade action, for clean close shave every time!"

Find your favourites and post them here! :)

The Triplets of Belleville

2005-12-08T21:38:00.000+11:00

I have had this DVD for ages, but I've only just now watched it because M. refused to watch it with me - said it wasn't his sort of movie. I don't know what he's talking about - it had New York (sorry, Belleville) Mafia, abductions, car chases, gunfights and explosions!

Of course, it was also in French (with no subtitles - it felt like a silent movie with sound, if that makes sense) and had a very ... unique animation style, but still! I liked it, and the music is funky. And the grandma and dog (pictured) rock.

Highly recommended. I give it five pickles.

Christmas Musings

2005-12-08T18:37:00.000+11:00

M. and I got most of our Christmas shopping done last weekend, thank goodness. We also put up the dinky little Christmas tree we bought last month. It's a fibre optic one and it changes colours and makes cool patterns on the wall. (I've never bothered with a tree in this house before - didn't seem to be any point when it was just me.)

I wonder how long it'll be before the puppy decides that the tree is just another chew toy?

I don't consider myself a Christian but I still quite enjoy Christmas because it's fun to get together with family and friends, stuff ourselves with unseasonably hot food, laze around in the sun, and laugh at the shopping mall Santas as they sit in front of overworked electric fans in their winter gear.

Gotta love an Aussie Christmas!

Anyway, we also watched "The Polar Express" on Sunday, which M. bought for me last month. I'd never seen it before, and it was ok (though "Shrek" and "Final Fantasy" have spoiled me - I can't see half-animated faces anymore and think they look anything other than scary!) and it got me to thinking about the whole Santa thing.

I don't really remember discovering Santa wasn't real myself, but I do remember telling my sister. I had found a photo in the album mum and dad drinking the milk (and scotch - we left scotch out for Santa too. No wonder he was so jolly in the pictures!) and eating the cookies we left out for him.

That was mean of me, I guess, though I saw it more as a kindness at the time. And it probably wasn't very smart of my parents to leave that sort of evidence lying around!

What about you? Did you believe in Santa? When did you stop believing in him (if you did)? Do you remember>

New White Wolf Product

2005-12-02T09:23:00.000+11:00

Channel Ten Strike Again

2005-12-02T09:08:00.000+11:00

What's with showing the first episode of "Medium" - whose plot features a psychic helping the Phoenix police to select a jury that will vote for the death penalty - the night before Van Nguyen is to be hanged in Singapore... given that a lot of people will have already started their vigils for him by then?

Very poor taste, Channel Ten.

The Previously Postponed Anniversary Post

2005-11-27T14:14:00.000+11:00

As you may already know if you read my previous post, today is mine and M's one year anniversary. Sort of.

Like a lot of adult relationships, which don't begin with a "will you go out with me" delivered by note or friend messenger, we don't actually have an "official" start date to our relationship. But we figured it must have been some time in November last year. Because at the time he still lived in Sydney, we saw each other on two or three occasions in November, the latest of which was Technohorror's birthday.

So we rather arbitrarily picked that date. M figures that so long as Technohorror keeps sending out birthday party emails and stuff, he can't forget our anniversary either! (Hmm.)

He ordered me the "Lost" Season 1 DVD boxed set (which doesn't come out till next week), and I got him "Ninja Scroll" on DVD (the TV series). I had also bought him the "Ravenloft" 3.5 players handbook but after I did he went and ordered a boxed set that had it and a bunch of other books off MilSims for cheaper than I had bought it at Logical Choice. I can't really blame him (and I was able to take the other one back) but that was a little bit disappointing.

We went over to Technohorror's place this morning for the Breakfast of Champions, and tonight we're going to go out somewhere for dinner. We haven't decided where yet, but so long as it isn't the local football club bistro (or a drive thru) I am ok with it. :P

It's funny how a year can simultaneously go so fast and at the seem time feel like a lot longer. He only moved down here in March, and I can't imagine life without him.

I'd better go before I get all sappy... :D

But I wanted to post something he had up on his LiveJournal a while back. I know that some of you have read it already, but some others that read this have not, and it's cool enough that I think it bears repeating. It's sort of long but it makes me smile ... so deal!

My name is Matt, and I am your father. I know you're not born yet. I'm not even sure who your mother will be. But I wanted to tell you that you can not necessarily do anything if you just set you mind to it. That's a load of crap.

Someone once told me that I could do anything if I set my mind to it and I spent that entire Chirstmas holiday period back at school trying to make my brother's head explode. I've got much more practical advice for you: if you don't actually pursue your dreams instead of just dreaming them, you'll end up working at K-Mart. In the pet food aisle. At night. On weekends.

You are not entitled to success. You are not entitled to happiness. You are not entitled to have a better life than your parents. You are not entitled to anything beyond breathing. And even that, you kind of owe me for.

You will have access to video games and DVDs and the internet and action figures, but I don't have to buy any of them for you. I probably will, but only if you're not a terrible person. If you're one of the shopping centre kids who shrieks that you're not loved because your parents don't buy you every last TickleMeSpongeBobWiggleRanger, you will be reminded that I may put you up for adoption at any time and start over.

You will have access to a free primary and high school education, but I don't have to pay for you to go to Uni. I probably will, but you can help with good marks and extra-curricular activities and the loans you take out based on your future earning potential. If you get Ds through high school and wonder why you ended up paying your own way through Uni or TAFE, it's because your future earning potential is $8 an hour. And that's only because the minimum wage will probably go up by then.

You will have access to unlimited information about politics and world history. And I will help you interpret it. But if you choose to form your opinion of your country's socioeconomic climate based on five minutes of Video Hits, you will end up electing politicians that only care whether or not you buy what's being advertised during the next commercial break. If you're even smart enough to vote.

Remember that you are lucky to be born in an era when you have more to play with than a rock and a leaf. Remember that you are lucky to be born into a country that sends you to school instead of to work. Remember that you are lucky to be born into a mindset in which you will not be killed because of your political views. In most parts anyway.

Uni will not be waiting for you when you finish high school. A job will not be waiting for you when you finish Uni. And a old age pension will certainly not be waiting for you when you retire. That last one kind of stings, doesn't it?

The phrase "you can do anything if you set your mind to it" is misleading, because you also have to put in the work. Most people who feel they are entitled to something are entitled to nothing, twice. No one is entitled to anything. Also, those who base their lives on a sense of entitlement are tools. And no one wants to give anything to a tool.

I will prevent you from watching inappropriate television so you can not blame your temper on anything but being human. I will ground you so you learn that listening to appropriate authority is the fastest way to get what you want. I will even hit you once - but only so a stranger doesn't hit you much harder.

I will not get you a mobile phone when you turn twelve. I will not get you a new wardrobe when you turn fourteen. I will not get you a car when you turn seventeen. What I will get you is a personality, forged by years of actually having to put work in to achieve results. You will thank me when you're old enough to know what I've done for you. When you are old enough, your spoiled friends will still be whining that they have tons of angst. And they'll do it over their mobile phones during the drive home from clothes shopping.

I will, however, love and support you in all your efforts, as long as they are efforts. You will be great kids. I know that because I will raise you to be. I'm going to set my mind to it, but I will also put in the work. That's how you get things done. And If you disagree with me, there's a cleanup in aisle four.

Oh, and if you get the chance, tell your mother I say hi. I bet she's really hot.