The first time Ma Snook visited our new place, she said, “Oh, you’re near the bead store!” Evidently the premiere bead store in, like, all of Australia is located just a few blocks down Enmore Road. So for those of you keeping track, I’m within walking distance of a wool shop, a ribbon shop, a button shop (“What do Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge, Ewan MacGregor in Star Wars, and Bananas in Pyjamas have in common? They all wear buttons from All Buttons Great And Small!!”), and a bead shop. It’s crafty heaven.

Anyway, today I finally dragged the Snook down to this allegedly amazing bead store. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint! I only wanted some chunky wooden beads for my funky knitted hat, but I ended up walking round and round in amazement at all the shiny pretty things. I know I’ve just been going insane with all the crafting lately, but I really am going to have to take a jewelry-making class there. It’s just too good an opportunity to pass up.

Discussion time. Okay, so Australia are currently playing the Sri Lankans in a series of one-day cricket matches. Earlier this week one of the Aussie players was reprimanded for yelling a racial slur after he got out. I was curious to know what he said, since none of the media dared to repeat it. Finally today I found an article that revealed the mystery phrase: “black c***”. (The censored bit – for those of you too slow to play along – is everyone’s favorite crude slang term for female genitalia.)

So here’s what I don’t get: cricketers use that term – the “c” word – all the time. You can’t hear it, but you can clearly see them mouthing it at one another. (Shane Warne is a particularly bad offender.) Why does the addition of “black” make it racist? Is it now racist just to call somebody black? (Yes, I agree that it was definitely being used in a negative sense in this case. I just find it odd because there are so many worse things he could’ve said.) Also, why isn’t anybody labeling it as sexist? Just because he directed it at another man?

It’s just funny to think that this entire brouhaha erupted over one guy calling another guy a color and a part of a woman’s anatomy. Such silliness.

It’s not April 1 yet, is it? According to the Herald, a French yacht taking place in the Jules Verne round-the-world sailing competition was attacked by a giant squid. I fully expect them to run a story tomorrow on cannon-propelled rocket to the moon.

Waaaaait just a minute. Willow is marrying Wesley? That’s just too weird. (Link courtesy of Kim.)

Part of my job right now is to generate crafty content for this new “creative printer lifestyle” site we’re building. I’ve been having a lot of fun with origami. These boxes are a great way to recycle greeting cards and they’re perfect for putting jewelry and little trinkets in. I’ve also made some cute origami bunnies and frogs. It’s a fun time-waster.

Friday Five:

1. Where do you currently work?
I work in the “e-business” department of the Australian arm of an international computer printer company. Our office is in Macquarie Park, which is way across Sydney from where I live. I’ve got the commute down to an hour though, which isn’t bad.

2. How many other jobs have you had and where?
Before this I spent two years working for an Internet company in London, England. Before that I was webmaster for this company back in the U.S. There are some other random little jobs on my resumé, like the summer internship I had at our county newspaper and the three years I slaved as a supermarket cashier in high school.

3. What do you like best about your job?
That they pay me. Seriously. After a year of just contracting and stuff, it’s nice to have a steady paycheck again. (I got my first one yesterday!)

4. What do you like least about your job?
It’s gotta be their draconian Internet policy. It’s killing me. (Shhh! I’m working on a way to be able to post here via e-mail.)

5. What is your dream job?
What, other than get paid for blogging? I’m not sure exactly, but it would definitely involve being famous. I keep telling the Snook that I’m destined to be on television. My friend Andrew had a premonition in college that I was going to have my own talk show one day, and that I’d also drive a white Jeep. That sounds pretty good to me. 🙂

Holy crap. Not only have they finally released the publication date (June 21) for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, they’ve also revealed that this book is a third longer than Goblet of Fire! I’m going to need a bigger bookshelf.

Buck Creek Barbecue Sauce. Hee! (Some explanation: Buck Creek is the “name” of this crazy property near my aunt’s house in Indiana. The people on it, like, lived in a teepee and had an Indian canoe out front, except they weren’t Native Americans. And they had lots of signs with Bible sayings on them. For some reason the whole concept just annoyed my sister every time she drove by. It became a bit of a family joke.)

The second installment (“The Subtle Knife”) of the His Dark Materials radio show has been posted. I listened to it at work today and I liked it a lot better than the first one. My only complaint was that the guy that plays Stanislaus Grumman (aka John Parry) sounds a lot like Terence Stamp, so for a while I thought they were doing some weird double-casting thing and I kept trying to figure out what the point was. (It would definitely make the end of the next book even weirder, if you know what I mean.) But it’s not him; it’s just a guy that at times sounds a lot like him. Anyhoo, it’s pretty good. I can’t wait for the next one. Bring on the gay angels, I say!