Just in case any of you are too lazy to work out today’s Foxtrot comic, I translated the Morse Code.”Some day I will rule you all.”
Month: May 2006 (page 3 of 8)
Because I’m Bored…
What is the last thing you had to have repaired?
Actually I need to have something repaired right now – my winter coat. When I bought it two years ago I had a tailor move the buttons over an inch or so (because it was a bit tight around the middle) but now that I’ve lost the weight it pooches out in front. So I need to have them moved back.
If someone gave you $2,000 with the stipulation that you had to spend half of it on yourself and give the rest to charity, where would you spend the $1,000 and which charity would receive your remaining $1,000?
I’d drop half that grand on a gym membership ASAP and then spend the rest on new clothes. (I told you: SHOPAHOLIC NOW.) As for the charity, I’d probably give it to the Cat Protection Society of New South Wales. I know there are probably more worthwhile groups in terms of immediate human needs, but the CPS has had the most impact on me in the past few years. I volunteered to work a few shifts in their Op Shop before but nowadays I don’t have the heart to do more retail on my days off. It’d be nice to help them out a bit.
What is one of your favorite songs from the 1980s?
“Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. I love that song.
You enter a pet store. Which section do you go to first?
Do I need to answer that? Kitties! Although bunnies are cute too.
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how athletic are you?
Well, it depends. How low is the 1? Is 1 for the people that never exercise? Then I’d say I’m a 3 or a 4. I’m more fit than I was a year ago, but I still wouldn’t say that I “love” exercise. While I’m doing it, I pretty much actively hate it. And it still hasn’t become a real habit with me; I have to force myself to do it. So not too high.
What was the last book you read?
Do comic books count? Yesterday I DEVOURED New X-Men Vol 3: New Worlds. I’ve got to start pacing myself though; I’m going through these at an alarming rate.
What book(s) are you reading now?
I’ve got quite a stack on my bedside table. I’m about halfway through both Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang and Jeffery Steingarten’s The Man Who Ate Everything. Next up are The Sandman Vol 4: Season of Mists, a re-read of Little Women, and then Geraldine Brooks’s award-winning March.
Do you have a library card? Do you use it?
Yeah, I got a library card a few years ago, mostly so I could read the Lemony Snicket books without having to pay for them. I haven’t used it in years though. The Newtown library had a woeful selection (and an ill-tempered dwarf) and I doubt the closest one to me in Chinatown is much better. Plus I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to books. I like to own them.
How do you choose a new book to read?
I go by other peoples’ recommendations a lot. I picked up March because Mary-Helen raved about it. I started reading comic books because John sent me Joss Whedon’s Fray and got me hooked. Sometimes I read books because the Snook thinks I’ll like them. I don’t have the time to be completely non-discriminating with my book selections these days, so knowing that someone whose opinion I respect has recommended a title saves me a lot of effort.
We all had to read books in school. Which was your favorite? Your least favorite? Do you think you would feel differently about them if you read them now?
I loooved To Kill a Mockingbird. I read it in one night. I actually liked Silas Marner too. Somehow I didn’t enjoy Great Expectations very much, though I love certain parts of it now. (Mostly Wemmick and the Aged P.) Beowulf was okay (Hollywood Gossip! My brother-in-law Dan Carbo is working on the forthcoming animated version!) and The Canterbury Tales didn’t suck. You know who does suck? Stephen Crane. I hated The Red Badge of Courage with the fire of a thousand suns. *shudder* I’m still ruined for Civil War literature to this day.
Dammit! I was all excited to watch the Eurovision Final tonight after watching the Semi-Finals earlier this week. And the first thing I do this morning is open My Yahoo… and get spoiled. BLAST. The silver lining, however, is that the act I was rooting for won!GO LORDI! I’d read about the Finnish metal band in some of the pre-show press and thought they sounded the coolest. Their performance in the Semis did not disappoint. I thought that the song was legitimately rockin’ and their outfits were great. They wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Buffy as some kickass demon musical act. And then the bit when the fireworks shot out the end of their guitars? GENIUS. I’m soooo glad they won! Now I’m just annoyed that the Eurovision soundtrack isn’t available on iTunes Australia. I need a copy of “Hard Rock Hallelujah”!
Oh my gosh. My sister (who lives in LA) needs to go to the Bluth estate sale and pick up some Arrested Development props for us. How awesome would it be to give Snookums a Cornballer for his 30th birthday??
New DeskCam picture… I’ve become a bit of a shopaholic. I go into shops and as soon as I discover that I fit into a Medium, I feel compelled to buy it. Tonight’s acquisition was a teal Esprit turtleneck. I haven’t worn a turtleneck in years because chubby girls in turtlenecks = not teh sexxy. But not this one!
Can public library books give you diseases? That one’s for Amy… who happens to be a librarian… and who has, you know, recently been suffering from a mystery virus. Spooky!
I should probably explain what I meant by saying I was having a “crappy week.” See, I’m a worrier. I’m always worrying. And right now at work we’re leading up to our annual sale, which happens to be when we do most of our business for the year. It’s really, really important that the sale is successful. I also want the sale to be successful on our website, since that’s my particular baby and I want to justify all the effort I put into it. So all this sale preparation is stressful at the best of times… and then you add in the fact that we’re extremely low on staff this year. I love the staff that I do have; I think they’re all awesome at what they do. But I don’t want to kill every bit of enthusiasm they have for their jobs by piling on too many hours and too much stress. And then there’s the bigger issue of reliability… *sigh* Because just because a person is good at their job, doesn’t mean they always turn up. So for all of these reasons, I worry. And everybody else tells me not to worry, and that makes me worry even more. I mean, somebody should be worrying, right?
Anyway, I trudged off to my ceramics class last night in the hopes that sticking my hands in some clay might bring some Zen balance to my head. Surprisingly, for a while it did! I made a nice, big thick bowl and then my first reasonably successful straight sided pot. We also learned how to “turn” our work from the week before, which basically consists of spinning it on the wheel like a lathe and carving off bits with a wire tool. (Mine were a little too wet still so I’m saving them til next week.) Then I tried to throw one final pot, but the worries were starting to creep back in. And you know what? It’s impossible to center a pot when you’re not centered yourself. In the end, I scrapped it. I guess knowing when to quit brings a kind of balance too…
The Mother’s Day Classic Official Race Photographs are now online! (They’ve disabled direct-linking but such strategems are no match for the Snook.) They got a funny one of me running, a nice one of Snookums charging towards the finish line, and this lovely one of the two of us immediately after finishing. (I’m still not used to how I look.) Now we need to set our next challenge. I’m thinking we definitely need to do the City 2 Surf in August, which is 14km through the city out to Bondi Beach. A month after that is the Blackmores Half-Marathon, which is 21km. What do you runners think? Is four months enough time to train for a half-marathon? Or should we just make the City 2 Surf our big event for this year and do the shorter (9K) Bridge Run the month after?
Flowers for me!
Look! Some sweet person sent me flowers to cheer me up from the crappy week I’ve been having. (I think it was Raelee.) Secret flowers are the best!
Dude! How did I not know that Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) is a fellow MetaFilterian?