Sock Monkeys Galore!
Well, the Walk Against Want was today, and unfortunately yours truly was too sick to take part. I don’t think this amoxycillin is doing the trick. Anyhoo, I still plan on tackling the distance (15 km) on the treadmill as soon as I’m able. To thank my three sponsors, I spent the day crafting sock monkeys for them. Aren’t they cute? They’re actually much better than the first one I made for the Snook (but don’t tell him that). And don’t forget, if you want one of your own you can enter my Oscar Contest.
Month: February 2003 (page 2 of 9)
Holy crap! This French news site linked to my pictures from the peace rally.
Please note if you were using the old web-goddess.co.uk URL that that domain name has finally expired. You can update your bookmarks to web-goddess.org. Thanks!
I just realized today that I’ve had Jeff‘s “Best of 2002” mix CD sitting on my desk for weeks. I popped it in and… it’s fantastic! You should beg him for a swap if you haven’t already. For me it’s like having my own kickass personal music guide to point out stuff that never makes it over here. (How did I miss this new Flaming Lips album? I’m loving this “Fight Test” song!) Plus Jeff always puts tons of effort into designing his jewel cases and labels, which makes you feel special for receiving one. Thanks Jeff!
Last week I went to an “Introduction to Jewelry Making” workshop at the Bead Company near my house. I made the necklace, bracelet, and earrings pictured here. It was pretty much straight stringing; nothing as complicated as I’d already done with the flower necklace. But I learned how to use wire and crimps to make sturdier jewelry with nicer clasps. The necklace and earrings both use crystal-cut hematite and pink glass beads, while the bracelet is made up of funky cut glass and shiny silver spacers. I had a lot of fun at the Glebe Markets today checking out the price that similar stuff was going for. I saw earrings exactly like mine for $20! I can now make the same pair for $2. I’m never going to overpay people for stuff I can make myself again.
1. What is your most prized material possession?
I’d have to say my iBook. It’s the most expensive (I don’t have a car or anything) and it’s definitely the thing I’d grab if the house was on fire. Next is probably my copy of “The Gremlins”, Roald Dahl’s extremely rare first book.
2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest?
It’s hard to say, since all of my really old stuff is still in various family members’ basements in the U.S. Most of the stuff I have here is fairly recent. The oldest thing here is probably my copy of “The Twenty-One Balloons” by William Pene du Bois. I bought it at a book fair in the third grade and I think I’ve read it about 100 times. It’s dog eared and battered, but I love it. And I always smile when I see my third grade signature inside the cover.
3. Are you a packrat?
Nope, I’m the opposite. I’m always throwing stuff away and then realizing later that I should’ve kept it. The Snook, however, is a HUGE packrat. Like, to the point of stockpiling cardboard boxes and styrofoam “just in case” we ever need them. We drive each other crazy, but he keeps me in envelopes and cardboard and I keep him from being a crazy old man in a house full of garbage.
4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum?
I dream of a spic-and-span house. In the immortal words of Edina Monsoon, “Surfaces, darling! Surfaces!” Unfortunately the only time I ever even came close to this dream was the few short weeks in London when we had a cleaning woman come in twice a week. That was the best.
5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there?
The individual rooms don’t have a theme, but believe it or not, the Snook and I had a “theme” when buying furniture. We decided we liked A) light wood and B) primary colors. Hence our unvarnished IKEA, blue couch, and red TV stand. But in terms of, like, decorations, we don’t have much. We’ve got a shelf dedicated to our various Star Wars toys. We’ve also got a couple nice antique maps on the wall that were given to us as a going away present in London. But other than that, it’s pretty bare around here.
Whoa! Somehow I missed some major Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban casting news. Michael Gambon will be taking over as Dumbledore. I didn’t recognize the name either, but if you look at his picture you’ll realize you’ve seen him in lots of other stuff (most notably Sleepy Hollow). I think he’ll be pretty good. But even more amazingly… guess who’s playing Sirius Black? Gary friggin’ Oldman! I’m excited to see how that turns out. I mean, Oldman is a fine actor and in my mind he really “looks” the part. But on the other hand, he also has this tendency to play roles, like, so far over the top that it distracts from the picture. Remember his cop in The Professional? Sure, Azkaban would make you a little crazy, but not that crazy. (Link courtesy of Kevin.)
“On a scale of one to 10, Kylie’s bum is a 58.” BWA HA HA! Funny as that quote was, I still can’t tell if Justin Timberlake is taking the piss or if he’s just a big ass-grabbing dork.
Start preparing your acceptance speech, Ms. Kidman!
She’s a shoo-in to win, according to the entries I’ve received for the Oscar Contest. Check out those nifty pie graphs! Those images are all generated on the fly by PHP from the database tallies. There are some surprises in there. Like, I can’t believe how many of y’all expect that Big Fat Greek Wedding woman to win. Yeah, I know it was a big cultural thing in the U.S., and it did okay business over here, but I never thought of it as Oscar-worthy. Maybe it’s because most Australians actually know real Greek people… 🙂
(Also, some people might want to re-think their tiebreaker guess. You’re supposed to predict how many extra minutes the show will run beyond the allotted time, not how long it will be overall. A couple people had guesses up around the 3-hour mark. Just e-mail me if you wanna change yours…)