From Dave. These answers are probably a bit different now than when I first read this on Dave's site this morning.. heh

1. What time did you get up this morning? The first time just after 5am with that time of the month pain. Took two panadeine and went back to sleep, then got up again at 8:30.
   
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
   
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Indoor cinema: The Incredibles. Outdoor data projector: Somersault
   
4. What is your favourite TV show? Airwolf or MacGyver
   
5. What did you have for breakfast? Cereal and milk
   
6. What is your middle name? The (Kazza the Blank One)
   
7. What is your favorite cuisine? meat .. ! no really, anything with meat and/or cheese is good
   
8. What foods do you dislike? The exception being blue-vein cheese which I had once, in 1987, and will never eat again. I'm also not fussed about raw onions, pumpkin, or brussel sprouts.
   
9. What is your favourite crisp/chip flavour? Cheeeeese
   
10. What is your favourite CD at the moment? Probably Peter Pan soundtrack
    
11. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Ford Laser
    
12. Favourite sandwich? Six-inch pizza on italian herb and cheese, with lettuce, tomato, capsicum and pickles, with parmesan cheese, oregano and south-west sauce.
    
13. What characteristics do you despise? Rudeness, selfishness
    
14. Favourite item of clothing? I have some quite comfy sox. And a nice winter jacket I picked up dirt-cheap at Go-Lo, and it rocks because it's totally practical, but if anything happened to it it'd be cheap to replace (assuming I could find one like it).
    
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Europe
    
16. What colour is your bathroom? Blue
    
17. What colour pants are you wearing? Blue jeans
    
18. Where would you retire to? Dunno. Haven't thought that far into the future
    
19. Favourite time of the day? Sunset
    
20. What was your most memorable birthday? My 16th and 30th were memorable in bad ways. Both were pretty traumatic.
    
21. Where were you born? Sutherland Hospital in Sydney
    
22. What's the last thing you ate? Dinner at Andrew and Sami's. mmmm steak :):)
    
23. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red. Darned things always ran out first
    
24. Favorite flower? Carnation, or sunflowers
    
25. What fabric detergent do you use? Um. Cold Power usually.
    
26. Coke or Pepsi? Coke if I *had* to choose one
    
27. Do you wish on stars? Nope
    
28. What is your shoe size? Depends what brand. Averages around a 6 in Australian sizes
    
29. Do you have any pets? Three angel fish, three glass catfish, one betta, seven neon tetras, three cory cats, two big kribs and lotsa baby kribs
    
30. Last person you talked to on the phone? Me little brother. He was going to be late for lunch.
    
31. What did you want to be when you were little? An artist, a flight attendant, pilot, in that order.
    
32. What are you meant to be doing now? Nothing much. Thinking about getting ready for bed.
    
33. What do you first notice about someone? Hair maybe.
    
34. Siblings? Little brother
    
35. What was your favourite toy as a child? I had a pink pom-pom called Cutie that went to America and all around Australia with me in primary school. Still have it at my parents' place, even took a photo of it today.
    
36. Summer or winter? Summer
    
37. Hugs or Kisses? Either
    
38. Chocolate or vanilla? Probably vanilla (for ice cream anyway)
    
39. Who is most likely to respond? Richard maybe.
    
40. Who is least likely to respond? Dave, he's already done it :) (and Neil just posted his as well, about to go read it)
    
41. Living arrangements? Apartment/unit/flat
    
42. When was the last time you cried? Thursday. Went from being in a good mood to a bad one within the space of about a minute because *he* wouldn't even bother to turn around to talk to me and was rather short with me. He did later apologise though.
    
43. What is under your bed? Dust
    
44. How many countries have you visited? Four. Australia, New Zealand, USA (x3), Canada
    
45. In how many cities have you lived? Just the one
    
46. Favourite movie of all time? Labyrinth or Peter Pan
    
47. Mountains or beach? Mountains
    
48. The current friend you have known the longest? Probably Luc
    
49. Full names of your potential kids? Not planning on having any
    
50. Usual bedtime? I aim for 10:30, but it's often well after 11.

Well my mini dinner party last night went well I think. Roasted a chicken for three hours in a very slow oven and it was utterly delicious. And, experimenting further with roast/grilled veggies, I found this recipe page, which I modified and simplified somewhat.

My variation:

FQ1: What's a new food or drink you've tried? How'd it go?
Dunno what they were, but they were these scrumptious dips at the farewell today. Apparently they were some sort of cashew dip, but can't remember what else they had in them
FQ2: What's a new television show or movie you've seen or book you've read? How'd it go?
Newest movie I've seen was Finding Neverland, a very sweet story, if not entirely accurate
FQ3: What's a new place you've been to or web site you've visited? How'd it go?
I started reading Neil's World, because everybody else does
FQ NEW: Do the new! What's something new you've been wanting to try but haven't? What's stopping you?
Scuba diving. Lack of people to go with.

FQ1: What happened the last time you needed help?
Well not the last time, but a funny one.. I was standing outside with the car, and called James inside, and simply said F1 F1 F1. Then my battery died, but he figured it out and came out to help me unload the car :)
FQ2: What happened the last time you helped somebody else?
Me? Help someone else? bwwwaaahahahahahah.. ahem.. :)
FQ3: What happened the last time you helped yourself?
How about helping myself to the scrummy food we had a Bruce's farewell today?
FQ ASSIST: Do something to help somebody today! Got a few extra dollars? Donate it to the Tsunami Relief Efforts (like the Red Cross at Amazon) or some other worthy cause. Don't have a few dollars to spare? Take a minute and use a FREE "click-to-donate" site (like The Hunger Site or The Animal Rescue Site. How did you help today?
I didn't donate today, but I did the other week. One of our neighbours is doing Avon stuff and they're doing a "Heart of Asia" pin. Maybe I'll get one of those.

Even though I didn't have to, I am anyway

• Three names you go by: Karen, Kazza, Kaz.
• Three screen names you have: Kazza, kazza_theblankone, blankone.
• Three things you like about yourself: Relatively good memory for useless information and numbers, talent for massage, personality flaws to make me a good bofh.
• Three things you dislike about yourself: Brain chemistry, my height (or lack thereof), personality flaws to make me unpopular.
• Three parts of your heritage: Aussie, Scottish, German.
• Three things that scare you: Spider (webs), loud sounds that make me jump, umm.
• Three of you everyday essentials: Food, orange juice, internet.
• Three things you're wearing right now: Jeans, t-shirt, glasses.
• Three of your favorite bands/artists: Queen, David Bowie, Billy Joel.
• Three of your favorite songs at present: Don't have any.
• Three new things you want to try in the next 12 months: umm.
• Three things you want in a relationship (love is a given): Fun, honesty, trust.
• Two Truths and a Lie: Love is something you do not something you feel, only bad people go to heaven, the devil doesn't exist.
• Three physical things about a love interest that appeal to me: Personal hygeine, eyebrows, hair.
• Three things you just can't do: Eat wasabi, deny God, eat blue vein cheese again.
• Three of your favorite hobbies: Lego, watching dvds, the internet.
• Three things you want to do really badly right now: Put something cooler on, have a drink of orange juice, build my lego minifig.
• Three careers you're considering: Pilot, astronaut, marine biologist.
• Three places you want to go on vacation: Europe, Eastern USA/Canada, China.
• Three kids names (either boy or girl): Arielle, Jareth, James.
• Three things you want to do before you die: See as much of the world as possible, scuba dive the Great Barrier Reef, see a baby being born.
• Three people who have to take this quiz now: How about Dennis, JC and Richard (who has already been told he has to :) )

So tonight I had a slide night for my usa photos. I was originally intending to do this on two nights so that people could choose the night they were free. However a decent chunk of people didn't rsvp, either because they never received my emails or smses or who knows what. I won't go into how bitter/upset/depressed that all made me, think it's safer not to go there.

Of those that did decide to come, they all came tonight. In the end ten people came! It was actually rather crowded in here!

I also couldn't get a data projector from work, the boss has decided the new policy is no lending (ok, so the last time I asked was about five years ago). Was thinking it was going to be a disaster having to crowd around my monitor. However then I remembered that Luke has one, and so asked if he could bring it with him, which fortunately he did.

We had to fuss about a bit trying to get the thing to work with my puta - it only wanted to play in widescreen modes which my video card doesn't support, until someone figured out how to change the data projector from widescreen to 4:3 mode. yay. So we could go ahead after all :)

Just after we started, Fi asked if there was a soundtrack, to which I said "yes" and got up to start the cds which I'd gotten in america - Azkaban, Peter Pan and Chamber of Secrets soundtracks which we listened to a lot of while we were away. They were all lined up, just had to press play. It was funny actually, they were almost perfectly timed, and finished basically on the second last slide. Very cool.

Took just over three hours to get through 1800 photos. Probably would have gone faster with fewer people, as there was much digressing. We also had an intermission in the middle to get more drinks/food etc. I think everyone that came enjoyed it. I hope so anyway.

I should definitely make up some slides for a title page, an intermission slide, and a "the end" slide. But then again not sure how likely I am to do this again. As far as I know, only two or three other people I know in real life are interested in seeing these pics.

Anyways, now I have to put this place back together again and generally clean up. Tomorrow.

Christmas Party Number 1

So Friday night was CIA's Christmas party. We went to Chan's Garden Chinese Restaurant in Burwood. Let me just say, if you're thinking about going there - don't! The food was ok, but the service was abysmal. We arrived at 7pm, but it was a full hour and a quarter before *any* food arrived. And then another three quarters of an hour before any food turned up for the vegetarians. So the entrees trickled out, and by 10pm we thought we were done. Then they brought out the mains. Yes, three hours after we arrived, and everyone had pretty much had enough to eat. Of course noone was hungry anymore, so we got a bunch of containers and took it all home. I have enough food for a week!

Christmas Party Number 2
Saturday lunch was a small gathering at James and George's. Very pleasant, and lots of food as per usual.

Middle Harbour cruise
After lunch, I trekked out to Mosman and went for a cruise on John's boat. We went all the way up Middle Harbour to Warringah Road. Was totally awesome. It's a pity he's planning on selling it :(

Christmas Party Number 3
After I got home, I sat down to eat dinner when Chris calls me up - party at his place. So off I head to that. Didn't think I was going to know anyone much, but a few people came that I knew. Managed to get myself a fantastic massage, best I've had in a long time. Also had a very interesting, if somewhat depressing, conversation with Alison. Got to bed about 2:30am.

Afternoon breather
Was planning to go to the parents, but plans were put off by the arrival of a thunderstorm which I wanted to wait out with appliances disconnected so that I could reconnect everything when done.

Yet another dinner out
Again at James and George's. Got counted as part of the family during grace *heh* Yet another yummy bbq.

Finally made it home to watch the second last episode of Survivor.

Disaster one nearly happened at the old SNASM clan Christmas bbq thingie. They all decided to play Munchkin before lunch, which at the moment is a symbol to me of how few friends I have, and that even then ones I do have I don't get to play games with. You see they all play it often enough to know the rules and what all the cards are, but I have played it about twice in my life, and then years apart, so I just can't play. Nearly lost it, and retired to the computer room for a while to recover. Aside from that, the day was fantastic, and much food was eaten by all. I even managed to get "Lavender's Blue" right repeatedly on the keyboard, which I've been struggling with for weeks. The scary thing is, I've played some of the songs in the book so often that I'm starting to remember the pieces by feel, and can play a couple of them without the music. I guess kids can do that a lot more easily, and it truly is a case of practise makes perfect, or at least better.

Disaster two had nothing to do with me - kaos karked it in a heap, so I have no mail at the moment :( And I hadn't downloaded my mail since the 1st of December, so if they can't get the disks back I'll have lost three days of mail - doh!!

Acquired from Dennis:

1. What is your Full Name? Kazza the Blank One
2. What color pants are you wearing right now? Lemme check.. White
3. What are you listening to right now? I'm Going Slightly Mad, by Queen
4. What was the last thing you ate? Breakfast.. and feeling hungry for lunch now
5. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Red. Red always ran out first, and so I'd be without it
6. How is the weather right now? Overcast but warm
7. Last person you talked to on the phone? John
8. First thing you notice about the opposite sex? Clothes
9. Do you like the person who sent this to you (or posted it)? Yep
10. How are you today? I am here
11. Favorite Drink? Orange juice
12. Favorite Alcohol? Baileys
13. Favorite Sports? To play, probably hockey, although haven't done that in years. To watch.. a lot of the winter olympics sports
14. Hair Color: Blonde
15. Eye color: Mostly green, with a bit of grey and brown
16. Do you wear contacts? Sometimes
17. Siblings: Little brother
18. Favorite Month: December
19. Favorite Food: Roast pork
20. Last Movie you watched: Chocolat
21. Favorite Day of the Year: Probably Christmas
22. Are you too shy to ask someone out? Usually
23. Summer or winter? Summer
24. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate
25. Do you want your friends to write back? Yep
26. Who is most likely to respond? Perhaps Richard or Dave, although Dave probably won't see this for a while, being on a cruise with very slow and expensive internet access
27. Who is least likely to respond? Probably Dennis, since he's already posted it :)
28. Favorite card game: Cribbage
29. What did you do last night? Watched Survivor and CSI
30. Favorite Smells: Roast pork cooking, peppermint, the air inside a pack of chips that has just been opened
31. Can you touch your nose with your tongue? Yep
32. What's the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? Checking my mail

I blinked and missed it somehow.

Raid array lost disks *twice* over the weekend. Going to be complaining bitterly to dell tomorrow.

The baby kribs are getting bigger. Some of them have fairly distinct horizontal bands on them now. Although they've gone very skittish and won't come up and eat out of my fingers anymore :(

Went to the parents for dinner... mmmmm roast pork and crackling.. food doesn't get any better than that.. :):):):) David came too and we played a game of 500 (Dad and Dave won - doh :) )

I also suggested my idea of getting Christmas presents for ourselves rather than for each other and then bringing those to Christmas day so everyone else could see what we got. Mum completely loved the idea. Dad doesn't care, not sure what David thinks. It seems a little wrong somehow, as the whole idea of Christmas presents is about giving to *others*, but practically speaking, we can all get something that we really want, and say it was from the family, end up spending the same amount of money, and not have to go through the hassle of trying to find something the others would like (which more often than not we have to ask each other what we want anyway). So anyway, we'll see how we go.