Mac users: I just found a great little application called gCount that automatically checks my Gmail account for new messages. Pretty neat.

How many of these 100 Wonders of the World have you seen? I had fifteen, but only because we saw, like, all of the Italy ones on our trip last year.

How many hate groups are in your state? Indiana has fifteen and (as I expected) most are KKK groups. My parents went to high school in Butler, which is, like, their national headquarters or something. (Link courtesy of Max, who unfortunately has to contend with “Neo-Confederates”.)

My First Day

The Good: Well, that was different! I can honestly say I did more work in the past eight hours than I did in the previous four months at Epson. It was all pretty interesting, too. We had a lot more people in than I expected and I was kept busy ringing up sales and helping people find things. I also talked my damn head off. Every knitter in Sydney is going to remember the chatty American! I won’t get bored.

The Bad: Man, I am beat. Standing all day is harder than I remembered. My feet kill. And GOD, some of those old ladies are mean! One woman was looking at a really simple mohair scarf we had hanging up so I asked her if she needed help. She said she wanted a pattern for it. I’m like, “Oh, I don’t think there is one, really. I’d guess you just cast on 15 stitches and knit every row, changing colors every couple of rows.” And she was like, “I can’t rely on your ‘guess.’ I need a pattern!” Whatever, you stupid old Feathers-scarf-wearin’ bag!

The Ugly: Oh god. I can hardly bring myself to type it. “How many balls of wool does it take to knit a scarf?” I must’ve heard that fifty times today. It’s like a zen koan. There is no answer! I’m thinking, “Look, there are infinite thicknesses of wool, infinite sizes of scarf, and infinite patterns you can knit on many different thickness of needle, so that means that it would take an infinite number of balls to knit your damn scarf, IDIOT!” By the end of the day I had given up. I just started answering “Four!” with as straight a face as I could muster.

On the plus side, do I not have the cutest hair in the world? This what it looks like with me attempting to dry it without proper round hair brushes. I kinda like its shaggy texture. It’s very Melanie Griffiths in Cherry 2000, I think. Just one more and I’ll stop, I promise.

New hair for a new job.

It doesn’t make me look old, does it?

Five Questions:
I enjoyed reading Robert’s interview so much that I asked to play along. Here are the questions he sent me:

1. You’ve talked before about the American foodstuffs you miss. However, if you were to move back, what are the Australian ones you would feel like you would die without?
That’s a difficult one. I’m trying to think of what I eat now that’s distinctly “Australian” that I wouldn’t be able to get at home. I’m not a fan of Vegemite so much, but I love Tim Tams. (Those are a big hit whenever I sent some home.) Definitely Oporto’s Big Bondi burger. Sweet chili sauce. Roasted Jap pumpkins. Kangaroo fillet. There’s actually a lot more stuff I’d miss that I could technically get in the States, but not in the Midwest where I live. Things like good Thai food, macadamias, yum cha, ocean prawns, fresh mangoes, and a decent non-Starbucks cafe latte. Those are the things I’d really miss.

2. What is the one place in the world you have not travelled to yet, but would dearly love to?
Reykjavik. You know, the capital of Iceland. I don’t know why. I just like the sound of it. Ooh, and all those hot natural spring baths. Whenever I’d play RISK with my guy friends in college, my (albeit inevitably doomed) strategy was always “Defend Reykjavik.”

Read on for the other three questions…3. As another “Buffy” fan, how would you ideally liked to have seen the series end, or if a movie were to be made, the way it would continue?
Well, I’m not up to speed on the Angel storyline so I don’t know if it’s feasible, but I really, really would’ve liked Buffy and Angel to end up together eventually, preferably with him as, you know, mortal and all. I was always a big Buffy/Angel ‘shipper.

4. Which fairly recent book do you think is just begging for a movie to be made from it?
Dr. Atkins’s New Diet Revolution! Just kidding. Actually I think a filmed version of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi could be really good. I’d ditch the device of the author at the beginning and instead start with Pi meeting the Japanese guys at the end. Then have him tell his whole story, concluding with the ambiguity and the end. I’m tellin’ ya, that would blow people’s minds.

5. The question the world is dying to know: Who will be J. Lo’s FOURTH husband?
As long as Mr. Affleck doesn’t, like, revive his acting career in the meantime, I think he’ll finally succumb to the publicity potential and tie the knot. And then the Enquirer will reveal that he’s an alcoholic who wears a hairpiece. It’s all downhill for that boy.

If you want to play too, here are the rules:
1. Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed. (You kinda need to have a website, otherwise I won’t know who the heck you are.)
2. I will respond; I’ll ask you five questions.
3. You’ll update your website with my five questions, and your five answers.
4. You’ll include this explanation.
5. You’ll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed.

Introducing ourwedding.web-goddess.org. Now don’t get excited! It’s not for me and the Snook. 🙂

Free at last!
Yesterday was my last day at Epson. Man, last days are fun. Everybody’s nice to you and you get presents and stuff. It makes you wonder why you wanted to leave in the first place! (But only for a second.) We all went out to the Ranch for lunch and then in the afternoon we had the gift presentation. The Head of Marketing gave a very nice speech and then I opened the box (decorated with custom-made Harry Potter wrapping paper by my friend Mardi) to find exactly what I wanted: a fluffy sheep knitting bag! (They’re too cheesy for me to buy for myself, but I’ll happily take one for free.) It was stuffed with wool and Epson toys. All in all, a very nice send-off. Now I’m just enjoying a couple days’ rest before I start at Tapestry Craft on Tuesday.

And in related I’ll-sleep-better-now news, the Snook got a raise and promotion at work! So I don’t have to worry that my inability to stand my Epson boss any longer is leaving us destitute. Kickass.

This one’s for my sister, who works for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of California. A nine-year-old kid named Ben was in remission from leukemia and told the Make-a-Wish Foundation that he wanted to design a video game that would help kids like himself with the pain and stress. LucasArts stepped in to make the dream come through. Now Ben’s Game is available to play. I haven’t tried it out yet since I’m still at work, but it got good reviews from the folks on the ‘Filter.

Lordy, lordy. Sex and the Knitty is here! The Snook caught me ogling this pattern and his eyes nearly popped out of his head. (I like the sizing designations myself. Hee.) And hello? Edible panties knit out of licorice ropes? That is the coolest thing ever.