Was gonna rant this morning about how much I hate people, cause they totally suck, and are totally selfish, and you see the worst of people on the roads. Then was gonna rant about how *they* are just as likely to go skiing in NZ this year and not let me come. And if they do that I don't think I could ever have lunch with them again, because I mean how many lunches do you have to have with people to become friends with them? And if you're never going to be friends, then really what's the point?

But now I really couldn't be bothered. Had a very pleasant evening with James and George, and feeling like just collapsing into bed.

Thanks to Fiona.. a new version of the Friday Five...

1. What blood group are you?
O+

2. Do you give blood? Why/why not?
No. I did it twice, and both times I was quite sick after. A pint of blood out of me is a higher proportion of my blood volume than it is for other people (another reason it sux being little)

3. Are you listed as an organ doner? Again, why/why not?
Yep. All our family are. We don't need our organs if we're dead, and if someone's life is saved because of them then all the better.

4. Would you donate an organ or other part of your body (eg bone marrow) while still alive?
Perhaps. Although bone marrow donating is pretty traumatic I've heard. But if was going to save someone's life I probably would.

5. Would you consider leaving your body to medical science? Or maybe just parts of your body?
No .. don't like the idea of first year med students chopping me up. Silly I know.

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.

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 :) )

As seen at JC and Bren's.

Rules:
Pick 10 movies that you enjoy.
Pick a line of dialog that you like.
As people guess the film, strike out that entry.
NO cheating

1. x never ever marks the spot - JC and Kirk
2. morning. morning. morning. morning. morning. morning. oh look! Howard's being eaten - Dave
3. Mawwiage. Mawwiage is wot bwings us togeva today. - JC and Kirk
4. This one's gonna be close
5. Give me the child. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city, to take back the child that you have stolen. - JC and Kirk (actually I should have used "Just fear me, love me, do as I say, and I will be your *slave*" .. would you have gotten that?)
6. Don't you two *read* ? - Kirk
7. There's no such thing as fairies - Dennis
8. It's not a job, it's an adventure - Dave
9. Men and women can never be friends, because the sex part always gets in the way - JC and Kirk
10. You can't marry someone when you're in love with someone else - Mushroom

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.

Or so the Cold Chisel song goes.

Not going to work tomorrow, it's too much of a depressing thought having to face *him*. And I don't have my car, so it'd be all too hard anyway. Debating whether I ever want to have lunch with them again, since neither of them like me very it much it seems. I mean what's the point of spending time with people that don't like you? The problem is I hate eating lunch alone, and I'd probably just feel more bitter that they're having lunch without me.

I was thinking I should just not tell them and just not show up .. make them think my parachute didn't open.. heh

To reiterate, why would anyone want to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane? Well that's what I was thinking for about a second and a half on the edge of the plane, and then we were in the air and it was all too late :)

So I called up Sydney Skydivers a couple of days ago to see if they had availability for today, which they did, at 8am. All good. Then last night they called me to see if we could be there at 7am. wtf? It takes an hour to get there, and we'd been planning on leaving at 7am already. Checked with Ric, he decided we could manage, so I was up at 5:15am.. blerk!!

We arrived at 7am and filled out all the necessary paperwork - "skydiving is inherintly dangerous" and "we don't take any responsibility for your death" and all that :) Then sit around for a few minutes wondering how long we'll have to wait, and then it's suddenly time to suit up. Mike was to be my jumping instructor dude. A very quick rundown on the landing (keep your feet right up) and the takeoff (bend ze knees, arms crossed, head up, then arch back, keeps arms crossed til a tap on the shoulder, then relax and enjoy the ride), and a test run of holding your legs up for landing. I asked Mike what would happen if he had a heart attack on the way down and couldn't pull the chute - he said there was an automatic release of the reserve chute at 2000' if all else failed.

Five minutes later we're in the plane and strapped to the floor. Being on the floor we couldn't see out the tiny windows, but after we'd reached 2000' Mike said I could get up and have a look out the windows, which I did. We could see the Hume Highway and Lake Cordeaux and Lake Cataract, as well as the airfield and Picton. Then we hit clouds and lost visibility somewhat.

At about 12000' we got ourselves all attached and goggles on, and the door opened. A few people went before me and it was kinda bizarre to see them just plumetting to earth. Then we were up. We were there for a mere second or so before falling out. Gosh it was loud. Next time I'm taking earplugs!! I almost put my arms out too early, but remembered and pulled them back in again. Once we were stably horizontal I guessed I'd be able to put them out again, and sure enough, tap on the shoulder. The freefall was very fast (yeah duh), and I found that I could spin us around by moving my hands the right way. Mike was doing this too. Very cool. We were heading right for a small cloud when suddenly there was this jerk. Didn't hit the cloud. And all the noise went away! :) Got to enjoy the rest of the ride down at a much more sedate pace, and could actually appreciate the scenery. Mike spun us around in the chute a few times, although the G-forces on the straps squeezed out the circulation in my legs! heh. We saw the plane we went up in come back into land, and saw a small plane take off from a backyard airstrip across the road.

The airfield is right next to the Hume Highway, so for the longest time it looked like we were heading straight for it. Some of the people in front of me got *very* close before sidestepping to land near reception. Mike landed us right next to Ric, who'd jumped before us.

So it was like, totally awesome dude..! :) A great rush after the initial "what the hell am I doing?" thoughts. Ric had problems with his ears not equalising, but I was ok. Then we wandered back to the office and de-suited and picked up our certificates. If I go back within three months I can get $100 off a jump.. does anyone want to come with me? :)

Then we did a quick detour to visit Yvonne and David before coming home again.

And now I have to go back to boring reality stuff, including work which I'm really not that interested in doing at the moment cause the boss couldn't be stuffed returning my calls and emails. Maybe I'll take Monday off or something. Also need more sleep. Five hours really isn't enough for me :)

No car. Broken clutch. Getting it towed to the mechanic tomorrow, but probably won't get it back til Monday. Didn't get to the post office to pick up me lego. Didn't go shopping, so no milk for breakfast tomorrow. Booked skydiving for the weekend, but Ric is going to have to drive us. Meant to have a slide night next weekend, but still haven't even sorted out which photos I want to show, made up panoramas, or invited more than a couple of people to come.

/me collapses in a heap.

On a slightly lighter note, I went over to the neighbour's and ended up invited for dinner. And they appreciated my Christmas tree, which is nice.

Saw The Incredibles tonight, which was, well, incredible.

Thoroughly entertaining, amazing graphics, great story.

Quite a bit darker/edgier than previous Pixar offerings, not such a kids movie (people getting killed and machine guns everywhere).

A few times I forgot I was watching computer graphics, they were so good.

<comment on seeing it by myself deleted>