- Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. "Of course," he muttered. "That would have been too easy. Anakin, where are you?"
- Stretch your left arm out as far as you can, What can you touch? The wall
- Before you started this survey, what were you doing? Eating breakfast, and reading Dave2's version of this
- What is the last thing you watched on TV? Sherlock
- Without looking, guess what time it is 8:15am
- Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 8:25am
- With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? The water spray in the fish tank
- When did you last step outside? What were you doing? Last night, coming home from EffanC's
- Did you dream last night? Probably
- Do you remember your dreams? Sometimes
- When did you last laugh? Last night
- Do you remember why / at what? Chatting with friends
- What is on the walls of the room you are in? Paint
- Seen anything weird lately? A girl who walks down three flights of stairs to use the girls bathroom on our floor
- What do you think of this quiz? Not too bad so far
- What is the last film you saw? Guardians of the Galaxy
- If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Germany
- If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? An aeroplane
- Tell me something about you that most people don't know. Um
- If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do? Outlaw stoopid people
- Do you like to dance? Sure
- Would you ever consider living abroad? Yes
- Does your name make any interesting anagrams? Probably
- Who made the last incoming call on your phone? My neighbour. She was a bit drunk. OK a lot drunk.
- What is the last thing you downloaded onto your computer? A form to change my name with an organisation
- Last time you swam in a pool? Last Friday night
- Type of music you like most? Classical soundtracks (eg anything by John Williams). Or rock.
- Type of music you dislike most? Hip hop/rap crap
- Are you listening to music right now? No
- What color is your bedroom carpet? Beige with brown flecks
- If you could change something about your home, without worry about expense or mess, what would you do? Seal in the laundry and put a toilet in downstairs
- What was the last thing you bought? Lunch yesterday
- Have you ever ridden on a motorbike? Yes - when I was about seven, at our neighbour's place
- Would you go bungee jumping or sky diving? Yes
- Do you have a garden? Yes
- Do you really know all the words to your national anthem? Yes. Actually I'll qualify that - I'm a bit fuzzy on the second verse (which never gets sung) and don't know the other verses (which aren't official anyway)
- What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? What day is it?
- If you could eat lunch with one famous person, who would it be? I dunno. Maybe David Bowie
- Who sent the last text message you received? My neighbour
- Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Gosh I dunno. Bunnings? Harvey Norman? Ikea?
- What time is bed time? 11pm lights out
- Have you ever been in a beauty pageant? No
- How many tattoos do you have? None
- If you don't have any, have you ever thought of getting one? No
- What did you do for your last birthday? Drank lots of whiskey then had dinner at Bella Vista
- Do you carry a donor card? Yes
- Who was the last person you ate dinner with? The sweetie and EffanC
- Is the glass half empty or half full? Depends on the direction it's going. If you're drinking a glass of something, then at the half way point it's half empty. If you're filling a glass, then at the half way point it's half full.
- What's the farthest-away place you've been? Scotland
- When's the last time you ate a homegrown tomato? Month or two ago - some of Kit's
- Have you ever won a trophy? Yes - for swimming when we were kids
- Are you a good cook? Not really. Stu is much better, but he rarely ever cooks :(
- Do you know how to pump your own gas? Yes. Who wouldn't??
- If you could meet any one person (from history or currently alive), who would it be? Jesus
- Have you ever had to wear a uniform to school? Yes
- Do you touch-type? Yes
- What's under your bed? Dust
- Do you believe in love at first sight? Maybe
- Think fast, what do you like right now? Our heater
- Where were you on Valentine's day? Gungahlin for supplies, then out to the club
- What time do you get up? Usually between 6:45 and 7am
- What was the name of your first pet? Bluey
- Who is the second to last person to call you? EffanC
- Is there anything going on this weekend? Tidying the house. Trying to get rid of stuff
- How are you feeling right now? Not too bad
- What do you think about the most? Um. Work maybe.
What time do you get up in the morning?- If you had A Big Win in the Lottery, how long would you wait to tell people? Dunno. I'd probably be questioning the authenticity of it on account of I don't buy lottery tickets.
- Who would you tell first? Stu obviously
- What is the last movie that you saw at the cinema? Cinderella
- Do you sing in the shower? Not really
Which store would you choose to max out your credit card?- What do you do most when you are bored? Read rss feeds
- What do you do for a living? Solve people's problems
- Do you love your job? Some of it
- What did you want to be when you grew up? Pilot
- If you could have any job, what would you want to do/be? Pilot. Actually probably not. Flying for myself would be fun, but I couldn't handle the stress of flying other people. Getting paid to travel the world would be good.
- Which came first the chicken or the egg? One of them
- How many keys on your key ring? I dunno. Lemme go look. Six.
- Where would you retire to? Probably here
- What kind of car do you drive? Ford Laser
- What are your best physical features? My hair
- What are your best characteristics? Attention to detail
- If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? Europe? America? Antarctica? Cruise around the Mediterranean? St Maarten?
- What kind of books do you like to read? Science fiction, adventure
Where would you want to retire to?- What is your favorite time of the day? Sunset
- Where did you grow up? Sydney
- How far away from your birthplace do you live now? 285km
- What are you reading now? I'm in between books
- Are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning
- Can you touch your nose with your tongue? Yes
- Can you close your eyes and raise your eyebrows? Yes
- Do you have pets? We have fish
- How many rings before you answer the phone? Um, as long as it takes to answer?
- What is your best childhood memory? Maybe our trip to America in 1983
- What are some of the different jobs that you have had in your life? Pie packer, shop assistant, ISP call centre, desktop support, systems administrator
- Any new and exciting things that you would like to share? Um, not off the top of my head
- What is most important in life? um, friends/family/God
- What Inspires You? Good music
Results matching “Travel”
So was planning to do more photo culling tonight. But after cooking dinner, watching two episodes of Rake (we finished season 2), downloading photos and backing up my computer, suddenly it's 10pm and I haven't done anything.
And if it wasn't clear, the links to my travel blog that I'm putting in now have pictures. Not that anyone other than my mother (maybe my brother) will likely bother to click through.
Friday, September 10th 2004...
FQ Topic: Scenario
FQ1: You've been given a million dollars to donate to a worthy charity! Which organization would benefit from your generosity and why are they deserving?
um, probably the Red Cross. They just seem to always be there when needed.
FQ2: You've testified against the mob and have to leave the country! Where do you go to start your new life, and what new career will you pursue?
Probably Europe. Career? Travel blogger? :)
FQ3: A movie studio has given you carte blanche to develop a sequel to a film of your choice! What's your sequel going to be about and who's starring in it?
Harry Potter during the years after the books finished. There's still so much more to those stories that could be told. Since it's still so close to the original movies, you could get all the original actors.
FQ RE-BLOG: A tragic computer malfunction has erased your current blog so you decide to start over again under a fictitious identity. Who would you become and what would you write about?
Blerf. I have enough trouble writing about *reality*, let alone fiction.
So after a lot of weather documentaries and American national parks, then through a lot of Australian and New Zealand travel and top end documentaries, I'm now up to a series called The Liners in dad's documentary collection which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I did however just go and lookup what happened to the Queen Elizabeth, and was sad to learn it's now buried under a container terminal in Hong Kong. I've seen the Queen Mary, but we didn't get to go on her. Maybe next time.. Actually there's a growing list of ships I want to go and tour.. must collate them some time..
Friday, August 6th 2004...
FQ Topic: Childhood
FQ1: Where did you live out your childhood years?
Como, Sydney, Australia
FQ2: As a child, what was your favorite toy, book, television show, and cartoon character?
Toy? As a little kid it was "Ducky" an elongated rubber duck thing. In 1983 I made "Cutie" - essentially a pompom which I still have and travel the world with. 
Favourite book? I didn't read many books, I found reading long stories tedious. I liked TinTin and Asterix comics. Choose your own adventures. Horse books.
TV show? I remember lots from my teenage years. As a child? Probably my earliest memory of a favourite tv show would be Whacky Races. I was always Penelope. We used to watch it with a kid from our school, Cosmos, before we went to school.
Cartoon character? Dunno. I liked Warner Brothers cartoons later on, and Inspector Gadget..
FQ3: Charm us with a favorite childhood memory...
Here's a whole blog of it...
FQ PHOTO-OP: Show us a photo of just how adorable you were as a child.
meh. This was me on our front balcony. 
This is the same view forty years later..
FQ Topic: Suggestive
FQ1: Suggest something to read, something to watch...
Star Trek VI by J.M. Dillard, probably my favouritest book ever. And Veronica Mars. Totally awesome show.
FQ2: Suggest someone to admire, someone to stare at...
The sweetie! One of the most wonderful people I know.
FQ3: Suggest someplace to go, someplace to avoid...
Go? Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, where do I even start? heh
Avoid? I can think of a few places I've had bad travel experiences at, but nothing enough to say don't go there. That I can think of. I'm sure I'll think of something later. If I do I'll add it here.
FQ PROJECT: Suggest an itinerary for somebody visiting your city by listing the five must-see attractions of the area.
Well it depends a lot on what you're interested in. For me I like towers and high places, so I'd suggest Mt Ainslie (free) and/or Black Mountain Tower. Probably a tour around Lake Burley Griffin to see all the public buildings and the carillon. Questacon is a favourite of mine because I'm a science geek. The parliament houses if you're into that sort of thing. And there's plenty of galleries if you're into that sort of thing.
Friday, June 18th 2004...
FQ Topic: Gadget
FQ1: What's your favorite electronic gadget that you own? Which gadget do you wish you owned but don't?
Tough choice between my phone and my camera. Both of them go *everywhere* with me.
Only gadget I'm thinking of at the moment is a dash cam, but I don't drive nearly enough to make it worthwhile.
Actually I know - a quadcopter that does video you can watch live. I want to fly vicariously through one.
FQ2: What gadget do you wish somebody would invent so you could have one? Which gadget do you wish had never been invented at all?
A teleporter. This was especially a thing when Stu was living in Brisbane and I was in Sydney. But even now commuting and travelling would be sooo much easier with a teleporter.
Never been invented? Can't think of anything really ..
FQ3: Do you consider yourself an electronic gadget junkie? How many gadgets are around/on you right now?
Not really. I don't have to have the latest and greatest. On/around me *right now* would be my phone, the camera in my bag, pedometer in my pocket, computer I'm typing this on.. maybe lasers and whatnot around my desk..
FQ DARE: Reveal a trendy gadget you bought, but are now embarrassed to own/have owned.
Had something here but deleted it so as not to offend anyone. Nothing really.
The other month, Dave2 resurrected his FridayQ posts. I did many of these ten years ago (holy crap has it been that long ???) but I also missed a lot because I actually often found them too hard! Often it required thought and brainpower that I just didn't have. Anyway, I thought it might be fun to work through them for the next year (until I forget) and compare answers with ten years ago. And I even still have a "category" in my blog, which is pretty disturbing in itself!
Friday, June 4th 2004...
FQ Topic: Escape
FQ1: What is your favorite way to escape from everyday life?
Movies, tv (to some extent), internet. Jigsaws, although that gives me plenty of time to let my brain wander, which sometimes goes into fantasyland, sometimes about life in general. Alcohol to some extent. Travel, but not nearly enough of that :)
FQ2: When was the last time you made an escape? Where did you go?
Well our last proper holiday was to Hong Kong and Taipei. Given that I did almost no planning for it, I guess you could say it was an escape.
FQ3: If you could escape to anywhere on earth right now, where would that be?
Gosh. Probably Europe somewhere. I love Europe.
FQ DARE: Post your passport photo (or your driver's license photo if you don't have a passport).
I *hate* my passport photo. These days you're not allowed to smile for your passport photos which makes me look completely retarded.
So 2014. We survived.
Probably the most significant event of the year was that my Dad died in February. Mum handled it fairly well, as she'd gotten used to the idea over the course of nearly a year. And in the end it was a relief of sorts, knowing that he was out of his misery and in a much better place. I continued doing trips to Sydney to help clear out the garage of all dad's stuff. We took many car loads to metal recycling and made a couple of hundred dollars out of it. We also freecycled quite a lot of stuff. In October mum got accepted into a retirement village and the next two months became a whirlwind of trips to Sydney, a trip to Hong Kong and Taipei, a trivia night that I had to prepare and run, a work ball I had to prepare for as well as life in general to be lived. I only just survived til December 16, then was able to collapse in a heap. It was pretty sad saying goodbye to the family home of forty two years.
So I actually had three big holidays this year. The first mum and I decided to go on when it was pretty obvious dad wasn't going to last much longer. That was for two weeks in Turkey. That was a pretty awesome trip and we saw heaps of amazing stuff. Then I did another trip with my mum in September. That was an Outback Spirit tour from Cairns to Brisbane via Mt Isa and Longreach. It was a good trip, but hideously expensive - as expensive as the Turkey trip, but didn't include international airfares, fancy hotels every night or restaurant quality meals for every meal. At the end of that trip we spent nearly a week with Chay and David which was a lovely chance to chillax after being go go go for two weeks. And the last big trip was to Hong Kong and Taipei for two weeks. I was in the middle of chaos at the time, so Stu did all the planning for it. That was a pretty good trip too, although we did struggle at times to find the best balance of going and seeing things and doing nothing and relaxing. Other than that, we went with DC to his coast house in January, to Bermagui in March, and also stayed at the coast briefly to go to Scott and Kerry's combined 40th.
Had an ok year at work. Spent a good amount of time "cleaning" - decommissioning old services and doing massive cleanups of firewall rules. Also got chucked in the deep end on a couple of projects that required extra assistance, so they were a bit stressful at times.
Healthwise I was pretty good this year. I got a cold during the Turkey trip (a pretty nasty flu thing had been going around the whole tour group so I got off pretty lightly). And it seems I got a cold probably at the movies the other night as yesterday I started sniffling. Other than that I've been pretty healthy.
We've spent heaps of time with our "whiskey" friends this year which has been awesome. But we've not seen nearly enough of Nat and Andrew as I'd have liked. We had a few games nights at Mishi's in January, August and December, with lunch at Damien's in December. My Sydney visits meant lunches (Peking duck!!!) with @StuartCRyan which was awesome, but sadly that won't be happening anymore. We saw Josh and Ally a couple of times, and Gaelian and Stef as well. A Sydney trip for George's 40th. A fair bit of drinking with the neighbours and playing with the animals. Various people came to stay over the year including the little brother, Chris and Zac, and Marc and Jo a couple of times. We're continuing to enjoy our visits to "the club" and went to many of the social events on during the year.
Pretty quiet year for the fish. All the zebra danios in the angel tank have finally died. I got five rummy nosed tetras for the two foot, and they're lovely little fish and drew out the black neon tetras which otherwise just spent their life hiding up the back of the tank. A couple of the duboisis died, which threw off the dominance balance, so one of them became dominant and picked off the rest of them one by one, so he's the only one left in that tank now with a sucking cat fish. Most of the kribs and multis downstairs are gone now too. Really would like to get rid of a lot of our fishtanks and crap ..
I didn't buy any Lego this year, but throughout January I got to play with all of Jake's Lego - around eighty sets of it! Building and dismantling and checking for missing pieces, and documenting. Sooo much fun! Also dismantled the Star Destroyer which had been out for four years!
Continued doing a lot of jigsaws at home during the summer, and some at work, although not anymore there which is a shame. I finally finished the 24000 piece "Life" jigsaw, but still haven't gotten around to taking it to work to document it all laid out. Not much else in the way of hobbies, other than part of a paint-by-numbers which I got for last break but still haven't finished.
January had a run of very hot days which required lots of icing the fish tanks to keep them cool. But the rest of the year was surprisingly mild. Winter had some very cold nights, but the pool only partly froze over a couple of times. We've had some very hot days too, but again generally it's been fairly mild. In fact this whole Christmas break has been *lovely*. Because of all the travel and chaos, the pool was a mess until just before Christmas, but because it hasn't been super hot since then, we haven't gone in yet.
Tried a surprising number of new recipes during the year - almost one a month by the look of it.
* two different lasagnas - both awesome
* black forest slice - needs some modification
* Boeuf Bourguignon inspired by Julie and Julia
* Coq au vin
* various vegetables
* breakfast raclette - trying to perfect a recipe
* white chocolate caramel slice
* duck breast
* harissa roast chicken
* zucchini and cheese fritters
We ate out a bit. I didn't think all that often, but still a fair amount. Our favourites are still Dumpling Inn and Pulp Kitchen. Bella Vista as well, although only once this year (maybe twice?). Went to Grazing a couple of times and it was awesome both times. Went to Ace Sushi a couple of times when doing shopping at the markets, but it's pretty average. Revisted Asian Cafe, Wig and Pen, Iori. New this year included:
* Grazing - awesome
* Ellacure - not fussed
* Edgar's - ok
* Bellucci's - pretty good
* Mocan and Green Grout - interesting
* A Baker - good
* Kinh Do - good
* Beijing House - meh
At work, other than the mall, tried out Altitude Cafe (meh), got thoroughly pissed off at Samiuz, went to Sanurs for an after party dinner, 2 Yummy a couple of times for after drinks dinners, and Outback Jacks a couple of times for team lunches/dinners (quite impressed with their feasts). Probably lots of other places too undocumented.
In Sydney our regular for Peking Duck was Super Bowl, and Tako Tuesdays were at Sushi and Grill on York Street for takoyaki - not fresh, but better than other places I'd tried, and it was just downstairs from work.
Also found a couple of speakeasys. The Baxter Inn in Sydney which is awesome. Went there by myself first up, then later with Luc and again later with Neil. Went to Molly with the sweetie as well.
Movies:
* The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
* The Lego Movie (x2)
* Lucy
* The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Books:
* Deadly Décisions, by Kathy Reichs
* The Earthsea Quartet, by Ursula LaGuin
* The Delinquents, by Criena Rohan
* Fatal Voyage, by Kathy Reichs
* Animal Farm, by George Orwell
* *batteries not included, by Wayland Drew
* Palomino, by Danielle Steel
* Star Wars Episode I, by Terry Brooks
* Dewey, by Vicki Myron
* A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle
* Thunder Dog, by Michael Hingson
* Star Wars Episode II, by R.A. Salvatore
Other Stuff:
* Multicultural Festival aka meat on a stick day!
* Hall Markets for first time
* Mapping Our World exhibition at the National Library
* Balloon Fiesta in March
* Inherited Dad's camera
* Inspected the Sentinel apartments in Belconnen
* Inspected my flat in Sydney. Got depressed over deadbeat tenants who don't take care of other people's property
* Won another work trivia night. Ran the next one
* Airport open day - flying visit as could only spend an hour there
* Went to the War Memorial but was disappointed the WWI exhibition was closed for renovations
* Whiskey Live - 44 whiskeys oh my!
* Stu's Japanese classes cultural nights twice
* Poultry show at epic
* Had to buy a new lens because I'd smashed my other one in Turkey. Bought the same one
* Drama with cooling problems with my car. Found a new mechanic who I think might have fixed it
* Had to buy a new dishwasher as the last one burnt out
* Fired up Stu's old Android and started playing Ingress. Got a sim for it seven weeks later but the damage to my iPhone battery was done.
* Took a random day off and cleaned half the garage
* Zone 3 with work
* Bought Stu a new car on a very good finance deal - cheaper than our mortgage!
* BBQs at @CLBradley's. On one of them I borrowed Frozen and have been slightly obsessed with it ever since
* Chucked out years of receipts
* Birthday dinner of Chinese takeaway in Sydney
* Whiskey tasting night on my birthday, Bella vista for dinner
* Skiing in August
* Chickens and duckies next door (and lizards and frogs and cats and dogs)
* Total lunar eclipse
* Pulled off a semi-convincing Queen Elsa at our work Halloween Ball
* Mum tried to electrocute herself but thankfully failed
* Carols service at Como Church
So that's 2014 done! I know some of my readers have had a tough year (especially my brother). Hope things improve in 2015.
Happy new year!
Not that bad really in the grand scheme of things ;)
This was my "travelling tech" for our last trip, as well as other travel bits and pieces:
Friday was first big Christmas party. Had dinner at Sanur's afterwards, followed by tv at Justin C's (Snog, Marry, Avoid and The Hobbit).
Saturday we did food shopping for the club Christmas party, which we catered the mains for. We did lamb, pork and turkey roasts, with roast veggies, a potato bake, and frozen carrots and peas/corn/beans. Pretty sure everything turned out ok (certainly it got demolished in short order). We've never cooked for so many people, so that was all a bit scary. And we realised the oven isn't as big as we thought it was.
Lamb, turkey and pork roasts
Veggie roast, roast veggies, baby carrots, a huge potato bake
Today I came up to Sydney. Kept Mum on track as she went through all the kitchen cupboards pulling out stuff she doesn't want. Documented it all and got it all up on freecycle (take stuff please!!).
Also, I really hate Sydney humidity. Give me Canberra climate any day.
Oh, also, idiots should be shot to put the rest of the world out of its misery. I was getting petrol at the BP at Marulan today. This service station has heaps of room between the bowsers, so you can easily pull into the front slot if it's free, and the person in the back slot can easily get around them afterwards. I love service stations like this, they rock, and make for much more efficient use of the pumps. But this butthead pulled in behind me while I was in paying, he didn't take the front slot. He just was there waiting behind me. And I'm like - take the front slot you idiot. But he didn't. He just sat there getting angry. In fact I hadn't even sorted myself out when he beeped me to get going. Like how stupid can a person be? I was tempted to just sit there and take even longer. Because if you're too stupid to use the pumps properly, then you deserve all the pain you get. I hate stupid people.