Results matching “Friends”

Ten Years

So this little blog turned ten years old today!

Happy blogiversary to me! heh

Ten years, or a quarter of my life in writing and online. Ten pretty big years with a lot of ups and downs, four big overseas holidays, a wedding, a new house, a new job. And mostly all chronicled here, to varying levels of detail.

I had no idea when I started this blog how dependent on it I would become. Simply as an easy place to find when I did things or find a photo to show someone. A place to put photos online for friends/family/strangers. My only regret with the blog is not starting it earlier (even though there really wasn't such a thing much before 2003).

I had wanted to update the style/design of the blog, but ran out of time, on account of being away the entire Christmas holiday, and having last weekend taken up by simply FTPing files up and down. So I may get something new online in the next little while. Maybe. The best I could do was update a few things like the footer, my blogroll and the site description, add navigation links to each entry, and republish the whole site (took twenty seven minutes this time).

Thanks to everyone that's come along for the ride, it's been great!

2012 Year in Review

So 2012.

The year started with us in Sydney with Stu's friend Kore who was visiting from the USA. We saw the Sydney fireworks on New Year's Eve, then came home. Went to River Island with her and D&Y and had another week off just hanging around Canberra.

This year saw us have our biggest ever trips away from home. Stu had decided to take some long service leave and spent three months in Japan - two and a bit of those studying Japanese, and some travel at the end. So when the parents said they were going to the Middle East I decided I would go too. I spent two weeks with them on a tour round Israel and Jordan, then we appended that with ten days in Egypt. I still had a couple of weeks to fill in before I was planning to meet up with Stu, so took myself off to London and then wandered across the top of Europe from Paris to Copenhagen via Brussels, Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, Hamburg and Billund. Finally I flew across to Japan and after a couple of days around Osaka had some time in Hokkaido. It was an epic trip and I saw some amazing stuff! I was quite nervous in the lead up to the trip that I'd get sick or something would happen and it would all fall apart. But fortunately nothing went wrong. In fact probably the only "disaster" of the whole trip was an airline going out of business while I was on my trip, costing me several hours out of my day in Copenhagen because I had to bus/train it there from Billund instead of fly.

In other travel news, we went to Dave's coast house in July and December, and visited Chay and David in Queensland in August. Finished off December with Boxing Day in Sydney, then a couple of days in the Hunter Valley.

I got my UK trip photos blogged - finishing up two years after the trip.

At work I came to the realisation that I like doing documentation. Tragic I know ;) As always a pretty busy year, although things did let up a bit for me after the trip, as we had several new people getting up to speed so we were able to spread the workload out a bit. So the latter part of the year gave me some time to do my other favourite thing - tidying! The year finished with a massive downer though, with one of our team members refusing to do oncall anymore and thereby increasing the work load for the rest of us. It's been causing me all sorts of stress/anxiety :(

Otherwise my health had a pretty good year, just a couple of short colds (got a flu vaccination which possibly helped).

We had a very social year this year, visiting, being visited and going out with lots of people. There were several games nights at Mishi's in February, March, April and July, although somehow Stu never managed to meet Lana. From Stu's work, we saw Josh and Ally a few times, Gaelian and Stephanie, Tristan, and Kirily. From my work there were a few bbqs at Chris', a Japanese feast at Doc's, a couple of dinners with Tony and Heather (that Stu missed for one reason or another) and some movie/singstar nights with a big group in January and October, and one with just Doc. Nat and Andrew came over a few times, including a hanami party. We saw Damien and Amanda a few times - for a birthday lunch (that Stu missed because he was in Japan), a Christmas dinner party, and a war games day. There were meetups with internet friends - we went out with Fiona and Chrispycon a few times, and Stu's friend Gene came to visit. From Sydney, we had beer with Luc, had the parents come down to stay for a weekend, although Stu wasn't feeling very well so we didn't spend much time with them, and Peter came to stay with us for a month while on a short term contract. Hao also came for a conference and we had a good catchup. David came to stay a few times, and Yvonne came once as well. All of that socialising meant we didn't have DC over as often, so the Buffy and Angel watching suffered somewhat.

With the fish, a fairly quiet year. We let the numbers dwindle down before we went away, as we wanted to minimise the number of tanks for Doc to have to look after while we were away. While we were away my last remaining original fish died - my ten year old angel. I gave that tank a thorough cleaning and got some danios for it. I also got five baby angels, but all but one of them died within a week :( So at the moment there's the "angel" tank with danios and an angel, the two foot with a couple of guppies and the remaining black neon tetras, and maybe a catfish or three we got from Chay and David, the four foot with duboisi, multis, a leleupi and a j.transcriptus (the big catfish died Christmas eve) and the "krib" tank downstairs with the three remaining kribs and a golden panchax killifish.

Not much happened on the Lego front this year (apart from visiting *two* Legolands on my holiday). Neil and I went to the annual Brick Expo, this time getting tickets to the VIP dinner. That was a lot of fun, and got to see all the Lego displays without crowds.

I've been doing a lot of jigsaws recently, and I did the second section of the 24000 piece one.

New toys I bought this year included a new computer (the previous one was five years old) and an iPhone 5 (Optus data is worse on it than the 3GS but otherwise it's a pretty cool phone). Had many long hours of stress fighting with iTunes - moving to a new computer, getting the iOS updated on the old phone and moving to the new phone). I also stockpiled some Buckyballs before they were banned for sale in Australia and got the London Olympics for the wii (not as good as the original). For the house we bought a purple "comfy" chair for Stu for the study, a new lounge suite and a buffet to match the dining table, and a new printer.

We're still eating out quite a lot, and I've become one of those annoying food photographers. Our favourites are still Black Pepper for weekend brunches, and the Dumpling Inn. Other places we went to this year included Sammy's, Gus', Happy's, Alice's, Ardeche (ourselves and for Noah's birthday), Mork's (with Tony, Heather and Jess, and also with Damien and Amanda), Café Essen, Asia Café, Bella Vista (don't get there as often as we'd like, but did go with work and James and George and the kids), Ginger and Spice (for Annie's birthday), As Nature Intended, Kimchi and Zierholz Fyshwick. With work people there were also visits to Zierholz UC, Samiuz, Bolly Buds, 2 Yummy, Guzman Y Gomez, Chong Co and Mad Mex. We also got into a semi-regular habit of going for drinks after work on a Friday, at such places as Ha Ha Bar, The Lighthouse and the Labor Club.

I didn't do as much dessert creating this year, but did attempt a blueberry cheesecake, chocolate oranges, and a pretty spectacular layered cherry pavlova (twice!). Also made hollandaise sauce for the first time.

Shows seen:
Fiddler on the Roof
1927
ACO

Movies seen:
Tintin
Arrietty
Hugo
Excalibur
Prometheus
Brave
Skyfall

Books read:
War of the Worlds
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
(can't remember if I read any more books - didn't read many because of not getting the bus as much in the mornings, and taking a shorter bus in the afternoons and walking)

Other bits and pieces:

Blogged less - less to say during the week
UK photo sorting/blogging
Problems with a fish tank heater tripping the circuit breakers
Back fence latch ripped off by persons unknown
Enjoyed the new donut sculpture in Civic
Watched the new Cotter Dam overflow
Ran a trivia night at work that was "the best organised trivia night ever" (according to a couple of people)
Canberra Airport open day
Got annoyed at a major ramp up in comment spam
DC's dog Benny died
Poultry show at EPIC
Skiing - with Steve in July and twice with Peter in August
Whiskey night
Started getting veggie boxes from Aussie Farmers Direct
Moving Feast Winery tour at Murrambateman with Tony and family
Did a bit of recording of VHS tapes to DVD
Fought with the overgrown garden
Nara Candle Festival
Halloween party at Chris'
Neighbour's goat died
Saw and got some great photos of the solar eclipse
Turned off my PIII 866 computer which had been running for most of eleven years
Exercise bike broke
Go Karting for a work Christmas party
Drinks and pizza at boss' boss' boss' boss' boss' place
Joined a small social club, went to their Christmas party
Sold my iPhone 3GS to Heather
Christmas afternoon tea at Scott and Kerry's

Ended the year with a pool party with Nat and Andrew and Steve over for swimming, dinner and games.

And so on and so forth

Weekend passed by all too quickly.

Saturday was a very quiet day, didn't leave the house.

Watched Fantasia 2000 after a couple of beers, which brought back so many memories of watching it in Marrickville in 2000-2001 after cointreau and/or vodka and vanilla coke. Except this time was the first time watching it on Blu-ray, which was just stunning. Beautiful and clear and none of the pain of VHS!

Sunday was also pretty quiet.

Went for a walk to the bakery for pies for lunch.

Watched Kundun in the afternoon. I missed out on seeing this in 1998 at the cinema because friends had gotten special screening tickets, but the only ticket I could get for the night would have been sitting by myself, so didn't end up seeing it. Vic's comment at the time when I asked him how it was, was "Mao zedung was a f!@#%it". Stu and I were a little emotional after watching it.

Then we went off to do our food shopping. 5pm on a Sunday you'd think the place would be deserted right? Well the carpark was certainly more empty than usual, but Coles was *packed* :( Ended up being quite stressful.

Came home and cooked dinner. The sweetie must have liked it, he wanted thirds.

So all I've achieved this weekend is a bit of photo sorting and some photo dvd burning. And lots of Laserwar played.

1927

1927 were an Australian band that formed in 1987 and a string of hit singles through the late eighties and early nineties.

I was a fan :)

"...ish", their first album was (and still is) one of my favourite albums of all time. "The Other Side" I got as well but it didn't grab me in the same way.

I had this poster of them up in my room (at least I think I did, I don't have any photographic evidence)

I decorated the whole back of my Year 11/12 school folder with a poster of the band.

I carried a picture of Eric around in my wallet.

I saw them live twice. The first time was at the NSW Institute of Sport at Homebush, probably in 1990. We sat on the side and I meticulously wrote down every song they played. The second time was at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre, aka "The Bop" one Friday night in 1991. I was quite close to the stage that night but got annoyed at a girl in front who kept bopping sideways, alternately obstructing my view.

Then they disappeared.

The next mention I saw of them was over last new years in Sydney - they were to be the support act for Roxette. But that was in Sydney and all too hard.

Then a few weeks ago Mix106.3 announced that they were coming to Canberra. I put out a notice on the blog, but the only two people that showed any initial interest decided they weren't really interested after all. I didn't really want to go by myself, so it all got too hard. The sweetie said he'd go with me if I really wanted him to, but I was thinking as of the day of the concert that I probably wouldn't go.

But then late yesterday afternoon I asked Neil if I should ask if there were any tickets left and he said yes. So I called and they still had tickets left, so I bought two! At which point Windy came by and said Nanette and her friends were going and he actually might have been interested if he could find babysitting. So he arranged that - win!

So he picked me up and we went and dropped off the laptop and on call phone to Neil (thanks Neil!!) and off we went.

We arrived a bit after eight and picked up my tickets. We had 399 and 400.

They'd said on the phone earlier that doors would probably open around 8:15. Met up with the others and waited. And waited. And waited. In the end they didn't let us upstairs til ~8:50pm :( But because we were in the foyer right by the stairs, we were among the first to go up! So of course we took up position right in front of the stage :)

Then we waited some more.

We were even close enough to see the set list for the night..

Which translated is:

To Love Me (...ish)

Don't Forget Me (The Other Side)

Nothing in the Universe (...ish)

The Other Side (The Other Side)

Tell me a Story (The Other Side)

Compulsory Hero (...ish)

It Ain't Love (1927)

Stop the World (Generation-i)

Believe in Your Own Lies (Generation-i)

You'll Never Know (...ish)

Give the Kid a Break (...ish)

Propaganda Machine (...ish)

That's When I Think of You (...ish)

----

The Mess (...ish)

If I could (...ish)

Finally, a bit after 9:30, they came out!!

It took me mere seconds to realise I was going to need earplugs. I could *feel* the music, and the wind from the speakers. And as soon as the guitars started I knew I was going to get deafened and stressed. So put in the earplugs and that worked well.

So as it turns out, Eric (now known as Erik) is the only original member of the band left. Everyone else is new. When I saw 1927 the first two times, they were actually a little boring - they just all stood there and played their songs. Erik seems to have relaxed quite a bit these days - he seems more like a muso just enjoying what he does. There wasn't a whole lot of interaction with the crowd though.

So I sang along to the songs I knew, and took photos during songs I didn't...

After the show we hung around a bit comparing photos. I went and bought myself a tshirt and their latest cd. And the keyboardist (above) came out, so Nanette dragged me over to get an autograph :) I asked if the rest of the band would be out, and he said probably in around fifteen minutes. So we hung around.

So worth it!!!

OMG I got to hug Erik!!!!!!

Very squeeeeeee ;)

And I got my cd autographed by the whole band :):):)

So thanks Neil for the kick in the butt to get tickets, and looking after on call for me, it was a totally awesome night :):):):)

2011 Year in Review

So the year began with a small pool party at our house, with beer, pizza, games and good friends.

We didn't travel much this year. Well, we did a bit, but no big international holidays. We did a long weekend trip to Queensland in July to visit Chay and David which is always nice. The only other flying I did was for some training for work in Melbourne. We went to Dave's coast house in February, April, June and November. Again, always great weekends away.

Did several trips to Sydney throughout the year:

In August for my birthday to see a John Williams concert and visit friends and family
In September to play tour guide to Dave2 and be a tourist in my home town
In December to repeat the tourist trip with Kore

And a few smaller trips - to Yarrangobilly Caves, Parkes for The Dish 50th Anniversary open day, and Jindabyne to see the dam spilling.

At work I actually had a good beginning of the year. We got some new staff and for a few months I had time to step back from project work and get some operational stuff done. But then Phil went away for three months and it got super busy again - doh! Had a bowling night in June where I *didn't* come last! Team Blank went to three trivia nights: we came third in April, second in August and first in November! Of course that means we need to plan the next one! Planning to have that in March next year. Had a Hollywood-themed ball in October that I was sick for and was pretty miserable the whole night.

Speaking of sickness, it was one of the worst years I've ever had. Had a cold in February, with an ear infection and conjunctivitis as well. Got pretty severe gastro from Violet in March. Another cold in May and another in August. And then two months of various colds/flus/ear/eye infections from September to November. Finally healthy at the moment, but it hasn't been a great year :(

Didn't see as much of Nat and Andrew this year. The default activity for Saturday nights was watching Buffy and Angel with DaveC, so it took energy to do anything different, hence it didn't happen very often. We did have a couple of Singstar/video/games nights though.

Not a lot has changed on the fish front. We (I) made a rule some time back that we wouldn't buy any new fish until after Stu's Japan trip next year. So numbers have been slowly dwindling there. We had another heat wave that required regular dumpings of ice to keep tank temperatures down.

Although we had a couple of record lows in winter, the days were generally warmer, and the pool only froze over a couple of times.

The only new Lego this year was a few Harry Potter sets. Just trying to remember if the Toy Story 3 Lego came out this year or last year. It certainly didn't all get put away until just the other week! We went to the Lego Brick Expo in Woden which was pretty awesome. Also saw Nathan Sawaya's "Art of the Brick" exhibition in Sydney this week. And an unexpected bonus of lots of Lego displays at the Aquarium yesterday.

Only real toys this year were a new random camera, and a little Eee PC for use when travelling (and in fact I'm using it now!). I had a play with a macro lens and an L series lens. Still using my original lens though. On my phone I played with HDR and Instagram apps, as well as doing my first time lapse videos of Lego building, jigsaw building and clouds.

I had a lot of fun with origami this year - making several "phizz" balls of various sizes. Also some smaller geometric shapes (technically not origami).

I did some big jigsaws this year (and a stack of little ones). I did my 3000-piece one that I've had for years but never made. And then the first quarter of an amazing 24000 piece jigsaw! Hoping to do the next quarter early in the new year.

After the big La NiÃ±a of last summer, got to see Bendora Dam overflowing in January, as well as the aftermath of the floods at Coppins Crossing. Watched the progress of Cotter Dam and went to an open day in April (didn't go to another open day in November because it looked like they weren't preselling time slots and that didn't work very well at the first open day I went to).

In culinary adventures this year, I tried my hand at quite a few new recipes (and a few old ones). These were mostly desserts - Anzac Biscuits, Violet Crumble cheesecake slice, Apple pie, Caramel slice, Melting moments, Chocolate dipped fruit, Christmas cookies, Gingerbread. That was a lot of fun and will continue next year. Also did quite a few slow-cooked dishes, and rediscovered the simplicity of roast vegetables. Another new favourite of ours this year was okonomiyaki, thanks to Lisa. I also tried crocodile for the first time (it was a bit tough) and had my first McFeast (pretty good). Our favourite restaurants are still Black Pepper, the Dumpling Inn and Bella Vista. Tried a few new places as well including Courgette for our anniversary, Rice, Alice's and Kingsley's.

Shows seen this year:

Weird Al Yankovic
Folk Festival
Much Ado About Nothing
Jesus Christ Superstar
John Williams at the Opera House
Za Kabuki
Floriade Nightfest

Movies seen this year (at the movies):

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2)

Books read this year:

Hook by Geary Gravel (and got a comment by the author!)
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Mallorean series by David Eddings
National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

Other Stuff:

Got lots of my photos onto the RiotACT
Saddened by the Queensland floods
Lots of scanning of old photos
Got a GPS and had some fun
The little brother came to stay a few times with various people in tow (or by himself)
Balloon fiesta including going up in one!
Skyfire
Walk around Government House
Saw Peter Russell-Clarke at the mall
Enjoyed the third season of Masterchef but decided not to watch the second kids series
Walked up Black Mountain again in May and went up the tower this time
Watched Amazing Race Australia
Did the Mount Majura to Mount Ainslie walk
Missed two lunar eclipses (4am the first time, clouds the second time)
Met Fiona again (x2), and Lisa and Chris
Radio silence in July when our internet went out for two weeks
Skiing in July
Trivia night for Stu's work
Geotagged UK photos, but didn't get them all online
Walked up Mount Taylor
Stu's sister bought a new house in Canberra which makes visiting somewhat easier
Hanami party in September, would have been better a week later
Two games nights at Mishi's (only played games on one of the nights)
Blog got screwed over (again) by my hosting company
Saw the Queen
Saw Air Force One come to land at Canberra
Got some cool photos of lightning

As usual I don't really make new years resolutions. I think if anything I'd still like to try and spend less time on the computer - eg two hour chunks in the evenings.

We're having a quiet party in our hotel room tonight. Just a little champagne and nibblies in our room. The thought is to watch the 9pm fireworks from the hotel pool, and maybe go out at 11pm to see the main fireworks from Lavender Bay....

Happy New Year!!

Google+

When Google+ first came out a month or so ago, I scored an invite and decided to have a look.

My reaction: meh.

I mean, I blog. I tweet. What use would another app have that was basically just a combination of the two? So I used it all of three or four times. I quickly added quite a few people to various circles. But really the only people using it were people I haven't seen in forever talking about things that really have no meaning for me. And not just their original comments, but all the ongoing conversations they have with their own friends. Completely boring! To filter them out I'd have to put them in their own circle, and only read the other circles regularly. Pointless.

But whatever.

The thing that really turned me off however is their "real name" policy. Which I simply don't want to use. I have my online persona thankyouverymuch, I don't need them dictating that I need to use my real name online.

There were two problems.

1. I didn't know what other Google services would be affected by me using my real name. This is not explained anywhere. Would my YouTube videos suddenly have my real name? Blogger comments? Noone could tell me.

2. If they catch you, they don't just suspend your Google+ account - they suspend just about *everything*. Now you have to understand, I am entirely dependant on my Google services. I mean just look at the list:

The biggest things of course being my calendar (I *really* couldn't live without this), Reader (that'd be an epic pain in the butt to switch to something else), Gmail for some mailing lists to make some things easier to manage, Analytics for my blog, Maps for various travel maps I've done, as well as a profile for commenting on people's blogs, chat which is the only chat program left that I use with any sort of regularity, and YouTube which I have a few videos but could live without.

So you can understand my fear of being suspended.

And then there are stories like this (and other Australians in the past few days as well) and so I decided to delete my Google+ account. Just like that. All gone. Never even miss it.

Syd-uh-nee!

Went on a quick trip to Sydney on the weekend. Mainly to see a John Williams concert, and chuck in a family and friends visit too.

The drive was quite pretty - all the wattles along the way are out in bloom at the moment. Unfortunately I was driving on the way up and it was too dark on the way back, so you'll have to take my word for it ;)

I realised I've probably *never* taken a photo on Como station before...!

In the city, an A380 flew overhead.

And then onto the Opera House for the concert.

Heaps of people came dressed up. There were lots of Jedis and Leias and Supermen (and a Superwoman) and wizards.

The Opera House itself is a pretty funky place for photography.

So the concert. Fantastic!!! It was really really cool. Unfortunately we had pretty crappy seats. Right near the front, which gave us an awesome view of the first violinists and the harp and a few of the cellists, but other than that - nothing :( Couldn't see any of the brass or woodwind or percussion *at all* :(:(:( So that was pretty frustrating and disappointing. Note to self: don't get seats there again.

Shaun Micallef came out between each piece for a bit of light entertainment which was kinda fun. Didn't get any photos of him unfortunately, even though we had an awesome view.. you know.. being so close and all! And near the end, Darth Vader and some stormtroopers came onto the stage. That's the second concert in recent months I've been to with Stormtroopers. Pretty cool :)

ACT I
Olympic Fanfare
Theme from Lost in Space
Theme from Jaws
Highlights from Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Adventures on Earth - Concert suite from E.T. (The Extra-Terrestrial)
Theme from Schindler's List
The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
Theme from Jurassic Park
Theme from Superman

ACT II
March from 1941
Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter
Sayuri's Theme from Memoirs of a Geisha
Main Title from Star Wars
Imperial March from Star Wars
Princess Leia's Theme from Star Wars
Cantina Band Theme from Star Wars
Throne Room and End Titles from Star Wars

So yeah. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It was far too short too - only two hours.. for once I could have sat still for hours just enjoying it heh.

Anyways.

So hopped on a train home, and D&Y came over and we all went out to the Tradies for dinner.

And they played with Yvonne's polaroid

Sunday morning we had a bit of a sleep in.

I took a photo of the "Pigs and Chickens" bathroom tiles for posterity.

We headed out to Miranda Fair next, so Stu could get a nice cup of tea, and to get my birthday present. Stu got me a birthday cake too :):)

Then went home, packed up all our stuff and headed out to lunch - met up with James and George and Liz and Luc and all the kids and had Sizzler. Ate too much as always. In fact I completely skipped dinner last night and didn't even wake up hungry in the middle of the night heh.

Then home to Canberra. The end.

And did confirm that my mother does indeed read this blog. *sigh* hi mum.... now you won't have to ask questions all the time when you talk to me, cause you get it all here? m,kay?

Weekend without photos?

Did a few things this weekend, but nothing really photo-worthy (except some scanning - see below).

Friday night was Jesus Christ Superstar at the Q. I'd never actually seen this musical before, and my only exposure to it was the John Farnham/Kate Ceberano/Jon Stevens version of 1992 where several singles made it to the charts. I have to say I wasn't too convinced by the interpretation of the story. OK so it was told by Judas' point of view, but I didn't really like the portrayal of Jesus. And if you didn't know the story I reckon you'd be struggling to follow a lot of it. The performance itself was decent enough (for an amateur production - always difficult to decipher lyrics when sung by a chorus unless the singing timing is spot-on) - the girl who played Mary was pretty awesome. But yeah, not the greatest of musicals. Give me Joseph any day ;)

Saturday was breakfast, shopping, cleaning the house and cooking (a reasonably decent veal scallopini which I'll blog about separately one day when I've refined the recipe). DaveO came over after dinner for Buzz, Mario Kart, Singstar and, when his voice gave out, Sports Resort.

Sunday was just pottering around the house, jigsawing, scanning photos, reading news feeds and sorting out thousands of photos. Only 2136 steps so far today - a decent chunk of those from bopping while doing the jigsaw. Also more cooking - a massaman curry, that didn't didn't turn out as well as the last one I did, not sure why. Maybe too much steak/potato/stock and not enough paste.

And suddenly it's the end of the weekend .. *sigh*.

Here's some of the photos I scanned today.

Me and Guy's cat Tutu at Lake Macquarie, March 1997

My first ever "CIA Pic" - some of the hardware supporting CIA in early 1997

Marc Betbeder at 10 hours old - the youngest baby I'd ever seen at that stage. Only surpassed by Violet at 3 hours last year.

The Broadway shopping centre being constructed, as seen from the offices of CIA in 1997. I actually have this photo printed out and stuck to my desk, all these years later!

My bedroom in 1997, showing my new computer desk, which I'm still using at this very moment!

A "snow" trip we did in 1997. Pete's family had a time share in Perisher that we got to go stay at with a group of friends. No lifts were running but we did have some fun tobogganing, and I even found some money under the chairlifts :)

101 things

I haven't done one of these things in forever. And I'm *that* far behind in reading my news feeds that I only just got to this the other day (sorry Dave2, I'm usually a lot better with yours!)

ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? I have three tiny lines on my thumb where a blue tongued lizard bit me. Only time I ever got bitten by a blue tongued lizard in all my years picking them up
WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR BEDROOM? Nothing, just paint
WHAT DOES YOUR MOBILE PHONE LOOK LIKE? An iPhone 3GS
WHAT MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? Not much anymore. If I do put on music it's usually the CD player on random (there's a whole lot of cds in there which means I get a crazy random mix of stuff)
DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? 5:10pm
WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? To be able to fly (like Superman)
WHO DO YOU MISS? Luc and James and George
IS ANYONE IN LOVE WITH YOU OR HAS A CRUSH ON YOU? Yes
WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU KISSED? The sweetie!!
WHAT'S YOUR MIDDLE NAME? The (Kazza The Blank One, get it? ;) )
THE BEST TV SHOW EVER CREATED? Airwolf or MacGyver
THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO? The sweetie
DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK? Only if I'm home alone
THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? Myself (actually my mother if you can count her dodgy genes that I inherited)
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE COLOGNE / PERFUME? Um, I don't wear the stuff.
WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOUR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? Dark hair and pale blue eyes maybe?
WOULD YOU RATHER BE SMART OR FUNNY? Smart
COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINKS? Neither
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PIZZA TOPPING? Cheese (three for three same as Dave!). Actually probably pepperoni. Although I'm also partial to feta cheese on pizza.
IF YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Right now? A little close to bed to be thinking about a big meal or anything. But I am hungry. Maybe I'll go eat the banana that's out in the kitchen
WHO IS THE LAST PERSON WHO MADE YOU MAD? Don't remember. Probably someone at work.
DO YOU SPEAK ANOTHER LANGUAGE? Nur ein bischen. Nah not really.
WHAT WAS THE FIRST GIFT SOMEONE EVER GAVE YOU? First gift? Bit of a silly question, who's going to remember that sort of thing?? I do however have a brooch with my name on it I got as a baby.
DO YOU LIKE SOMEONE? I like lots of people
ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED? No.
FAVOURITE CLOTHING BRAND? Umm.. Jeans West for jeans, Millers for t-shirts??
WHAT'S YOUR DREAM CAR? One that flies (ha! I like this one of Dave's). But probably a 97 or 98 WRX.
WHAT COLOUR IS IT? Blue.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE KIND OF EXERCISE? Walking.
WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING? Don't know. I've done the long distance thing twice though, does that count?
WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? It depends. If it's your significant other, just tell them. If it's someone you like but don't know if they like you back that's more tricky...
WRITE A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED? 32.
BLONDES OR BRUNETTES? Either.
WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL OFTEN? Probably the sweetie.
WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? People.
HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY? WHERE DID YOU GO? WHAT PLACE DID YOU LIKE BEST? Yes. Europe, America, Japan. Like all of them in different ways.
YOUR WEAKNESSES? Potato chips (crisps for DaveC :P )
FRIES/CHIPS, RICE, OR BEANS? Fries
FIRST JOB? Shop assistant in a news agent
EVER PRANK CALLED SOMEONE? No
WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE YOU FILLED OUT THIS? Watching The Amazing Race Australia
IF YOU COULD GET PLASTIC SURGERY WHAT WOULD IT BE? Umm.. don't know
WHY DID YOU FILL OUT THIS MEME? Cause I haven't done one in ages
WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? My hair
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF ALCOHOL BECAME ILLEGAL? Survive without it I suppose
WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? A new brain
HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT? None
WHERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? No
DO YOU WISH ON STARS? No
WHICH FINGER[S] IS YOUR FAVOURITE? I suppose my index finger?? Who writes these questions??
WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? The aforementioned banana
DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No, except when I take about four times longer than normal to do it properly, but then I lose interest and it degenerates into scrawl again
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT? Pepperoni/salami (on a pizza sub)
ANY BAD HABITS? Yes.
WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING CD ON THE SHELF? Maybe Roxette or Mariah Carey?
IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? No. Seeing other kids bordering on aspergers and how annoying they are, I'm surprised I ended up having any friends at all.
HAVE YOU EVER TOLD A SECRET YOU SWORE NOT TO TELL? Not that I know of. My problem is only when I don't know something is a secret (growing up I was always the last to hear anything, so I assume by the time information gets to me it's already public knowledge)
DO LOOKS MATTER? Only partially
HOW DO YOU RELEASE YOUR ANGER? Rant on twitter or my blog.
WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? Probably my parents' place? Or James and George's?
DO YOU TRUST OTHERS EASILY? No.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TOY AS A CHILD? Don't know. Maybe Space Lego.
HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR MOBILE PHONE? No idea. How do I tell?
DO YOU USE SARCASM? Sometimes. I don't think I'm very good at it.
DO YOU KNOW ANYONE FAMOUS? No.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN A MOSH PIT? Not really.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A PLACE TO LIVE? Close to stuff (work, friends etc).
WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Kazza, Kaz
HOW MANY HATS DO YOU OWN? WHAT'S YOUR HAT SIZE? A couple of caps.
DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes.
WERE YOU UPSET ABOUT STEVE IRWIN DYING? I felt really bad for Terri. She looked devastated.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Choc mint.
ARE YOU LAZY? Yes
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE SONGS AT THE MOMENT? Don't have one
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE BAND? Queen
HOW MANY WISDOM TEETH DO YOU HAVE? Two. Although I think I have the other two in a container somewhere
DO YOU WANT TO GO ANYWHERE SPECIAL THIS YEAR? Always, but not likely to happen this year. Next year I want to do a round the world theme park tour with Nat and Andrew.. just gotta convince them they can afford it...
WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? My computer fans humming
LAST THING YOU ATE? Haven't we had this question already? Lame
LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Just trying to think if I talked to anyone on the phone at work today. Don't think so. Last log in my phone is the sweetie on Friday
WHATS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT YOURSELF IN THE MORNING? Usually that my spine hurts
FAVOURITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG? There's a couple I suppose? Trying to think of favourite..
FAVOURITE TWO THINGS TO HATE? Two of the vendors I have to deal with at work.
FAVOURITE DRINK? Orange juice
FAVOURITE ZODIAC SIGN? Shrug. Who cares.
SPORTS YOU LIKE TO WATCH? Maybe ice skating? Not really into sports
WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOUR? Blonde
EYE COLOUR? Greeny grey/brown
DO YOU WEAR GLASSES? Yes
SIBLINGS? Yes, a little brother
FAVOURITE MONTH(s)? December
DO YOU LIKE SUSHI? Depends what's in it. Not a huge fan of raw fish. I like cooked tuna and beef ones though.
LAST THING YOU WATCHED? The Amazing Race Australia
FAVOURITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Christmas Day or my birthday
ARE YOU TOO SHY TO ASK SOMEONE OUT? I used to be. Now is a non-issue.
SUMMER OR WINTER? Neither - spring!
KISSES OR HUGS? Leaving Dave's answer: Depends on the person, but probably hugs.
RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE-NIGHT STANDS? Relationships
WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE CELEBRITY? Don't really have a favourite at the moment.
WHO IS THE LEAST LIKELY TO ASK YOU ON A DATE? er.. anyone really, given that I'm married
BOOKS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE TURNED INTO A FILM? I'm surprised Prey by Michael Crichton hasn't. The Belgariad would be cool but that would be a lot of movies.

It's Friday!!

OK so it's not really. But I don't have to go to work tomorrow which makes this Friday! Hurrah!! :)

Unfortunately I don't have any photos in my to-be-blogged folder either.

So this is going to be the boringest post ever. Well maybe not ever. I've had some boring posts in the past. Your challenge: find one! mwooahhahaha

I've been blogging for eight years. 2891 entries.

Even I don't have the stamina to re-read the whole thing. It'd take weeks! I tried at one point, cause I thought it would be a good idea to censor my biggest rants, especially about friends and family (parents). I think I got about a year and a half in before I ran out of steam.

My mother on the other hand is obsessive enough to read the whole thing if she found it again (she found it once by accident, don't know if she's been back since). Since she has the internet at home now it's likely to happen sooner rather than later. Well mum, be warned, there's a rant or two about you floating around. You have been warned.

Wow. I somehow managed to stretch a nothing post into a several paragraphs!

Happy ~~Invasion~~ Australia day for tomorrow.. if anyone wants to come round for a swim, the puddle will be free (preferably in the afternoon when the sun is a bit off the pool).