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Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
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1:29 pm - Getting stuff done
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Ok, so the subject line is probably an overstatement. However, there is nothing like going back to uni and having a great intellectually-productive discussion class to make one feel accomplished. It's great to be sharing ideas and talking shit all at once with a bunch of near-strangers again. It's funny how I miss it over just a week of break. I guess it's my homebody tendencies that make me get lonely and bored.
This morning I went out and got the haircut I was desperately needing. I got my hair cut off! Well, cropped to.. mid-neck? length. I've had my haircut shortish a few times in my life and always regretted it. I'm liking how it's looking right now, but I'm not used to it and I still see my old horror-cuts when I look at my face under my new hair. I guess time will tell. I've booked another appointment for the 2nd of May, so I can have some tweaking done. That way, if I wake up tomorrow and hate it, I can just pull a ribbon over it and keep it back for a couple of weeks.
Next stop: essays! I want to get my writing going and knock over at least one of my essays in the next couple of weeks. Mum and Dad are going to Canada at the end of semester, so I want the drafts done early so I have a couple of proof-readers about the house!
Sometimes it feels good to be busy, but not rushed.
~K
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| Saturday, April 18th, 2009
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4:25 pm - Cooking up a... drizzle?
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For the last few weeks at work our supervisor has been on holidays, so to help our temporary (and lovely) Saturday morning shift supervisor get through the day (along with feeding the starving Saturday morning regulars), I have been baking on Fridays. Week one was brownies, week two, cookies, and this week, chocolate cake. (It's a bit chocolatey, I know, but my friend Alex is a bit of a nut for chocolate, so I indulge her. I like cooking with chocolate - even the disasters taste good!). All of these have been from Donna Hay's simple essentials series (the chocolate book... no kidding!), but adapted to my own preferences and stylings. Now, I'm always happy when people think that these lovely baked things are delicious, but I often wonder: does following a fairly excellent recipe make you a good cook? I mean, I add extra sugar, chocolate, or butter here, and take away coconut or instant coffee there, but that's only to suit my tastes or to make the recipe easier to work with (in my opinion). Is this what most 'good cooks' do? I just don't know. Anyway... the cake was AWESOME! After seeing (in horror) this morning that my lovely, high-domed pretty cake had fallen (as it was actually supposed to! Who knew?) and that I had crushed some of the baking paper lining, therefore making the cake a bit wonky around the edges (a bit? VERY!), I did worry that it was going to taste as flat and unhappy as it looked, but it actually turned out really nice! So, I thought I'd share the recipe because it's FABULOUS!
First you melt together 310gms of dark chocolate (cooking, preferably couveture. Donna says 300gms, but what does she know?) add 250gms of butter (I suppose unsalted, but I never remember to buy that, and salted seems to work just as well) over a medium heat, stirring and keeping a good eye on it so it doesn't burn or stick to your saucepan. (There's no need for a double-boiler if you're melting chocolate with butter, only if it's chocolate alone.)
While (or after) you're doing that you beat 5 egg yolks and 1/3 cup of sugar until it goes pale and thick. Then add the slightly cooled chocolate mix to it immediately. (If you leave the egg too long it will go flat and thin and look like pre-cooking scramble. BAD!)
Then you get 1/3 cup of flour and 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and sift it into the chocolate and egg mixture, folding gently as you go.
Once that's fairly well mixed (or the mixture is at least mostly brownish and there aren't any air pockets full of dry flour), beat 5 egg yolks to form those stiff white peaks you've heard so much about, then fold them very gently but thoroughly into the rest of the ingredients. (VERY thoroughly! Otherwise you get little puffs of plain egg white in your cake. You can't taste it, but it looks damned odd! I've seen this in other cakes before. 0 points for presentation when your cake looks like a sheep was shorn in the oven with it!)
When it's all together, pour it into a medium or large-ish cake tin (springform FTW!). LINE THE TIN FIRST! This mixture is SENSITIVE and will go CRUSTY-YUCK around the edges if you don't baking-paper it all up! While you're wrestling with the baking paper and scissors, turn the oven on to pre-heat to 130 degrees celsius. The cake needs to go in for about 1 hours and 15 minutes. You can tell when it's cooked because it will feel quite firm (but give a little) when you poke it. The good thing about low-temp. baking is that you can poke your product without burning your fingers! Saves you from having to leave skewer marks in the cake from testing!
Note: This cake MUST be left to cool. It's not fun to try to handle when it's warm (no matter how much prettier it looks)! You can make a chocolate glaze, as Donna suggests, which I'm sure would be lovely, but it's a really moist cake and doesn't need it (unlike most basic cakes that REQUIRE icing or glazes to battle their dryness!). I sifted some icing sugar over the top (mainly to diguise the wonky-ness!), and that was splendid! If you really want a heart-attack (or if you are hosting a dinner party and want a fancy-pants dessert), you could add a splodge of double cream on the side.
It's awesome! and SO MUCH EASIER than the recipe suggests. (Also, I don't handle Americanisms in cooking well, so the whole thing is in Australian cups and kgs/gms. Do the maths yourself! (I failed that class!) It is WORTH IT!!
Anyway, I'll put my housewife back in her box now... Stacey is back on Monday, so no more Saturday treats for the work buddies (and I can have some spare time for, you know, uni work or something)!
~K
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| Saturday, April 11th, 2009
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4:19 pm
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I've been trapped indoors since Tuesday with a cold. I'm thoroughly over it now. I've missed a writing workshop, a lecture from my favourite prof., and easter egg painting with Emily and friends. Tongight, however, I am braving the cold (weather and virus) to see Dylan Moran! Honestly, if I hadn't spent $70 on this, I would be staying home, but at least it will be entertaining. Tomorrow I'm going to see Adam Hills, as well! I really hope I don't cough through both, especially since I'll be close to the front and I don't need a comedian giving me shit over this right now!
Despite being horribly sick, this week has actually not been too bad. I am tired of being at home, but facebook chat has meant that I was never without company. Mostly, it's been Jim who spends his study time trawling youtube for truly disturbing and hilarious clips to put in my way. It's a great help in passing the time, I must say.
On a side note, has anyone else seen Phantom of the Opera, the 2004 movie? I'm watching it on TV right now and it is AWFUL. Seriously. This should never have been released. It's a pathetic, embarrassing mess. Honestly.
Wow, but if you bothered to read this, you deserve a medal. I blame the medications!
~K
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| Friday, April 3rd, 2009
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11:46 am
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So far today I have gone for a run, walked the dogs, dusted, vaccuumed, and mopped the house, and written 75 words of my stupid essay. I was going to continue my essay, go to the supermarket, and bake cookies, but it started raining so I had to drop everything and run to the windows and look out, and the run out to feel it and listen to the thunder. Because I'm Australian, and Victorian, and Melbournian, and when it rains in Melbourne these days, it's a freaking Event. A lovely, wonderful, happy, surprisig event. I feel like I should be cheering Autumn on, like; "come on Autumn, push through! You can do it!!". My dogs aren't too happy about it, though. They're curled up outside the back door pretending to be wet and miserable (really they're dry, warm, and just fine) because they like coming inside and only get to do it in extreme weather conditions. Rain is so rare these days that even the dogs think it's extreme. The cats, on the other hand, deserve to be inside. They are freaking RIGHT out. Anouk is trembling under the couch cover and Phillip is sitting atop his cat tree, looking like he's just had a very uncomfortable anal probe. Poor critters.
In other news, I'm still sick. It's annoying, but it's providing an acceptable excuse for my extensive procrastination over the measley little 1,500 word essay I'm supposed to be writting. Clearly I haven't the concentration or presence of mind in my current state to be writing anything at all! I only have enough to nap on the couch, watching Ellen and Oprah. Unfortunately, given that I also have orthostatic intolerance, this really only makes me more sick. So, not only am I not being constructive, I am also preventing myself from being constructive in the future! Go me!
Hopefully I will be well for Emily's birfday party, I don't want to be coughing all the way through it. Also hopefully the present I ordered TWO whole weeks ago (I know, I'm crap at timing!) will come today so I can give it to her! If not, I'll have to find an emergency 'sorry your gift is currently in the possession of Australia Post' gift. Since I'm going to the Camberwell Market the morning before the party, I may actually find something else, whether the actual gift arrives today or not!
Anywhosit, I ought to be getting to the supermarket. I'm not sure that this rain is going to pass anytime soon. The BOM certainly aren't indicating that it will. :D
~K
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| Friday, March 27th, 2009
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11:36 am
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So recently I've been all 'wah, wah, wah, I wish I was really sick, not just stuck with a bloody disorder, wah, wah, wah', and now I'm sick. I have a chest infection/asthma. And you know what? I don't want to be really sick. Quite honestly, I think I prefer the bloody disorder!
Also this week: my supervisor told me to get my arse into gear and get some ideas on paper for what I want to actually write in my thesis (I already know what I want to write it on, sort of...). So far I have started a new short story, written a couple of lyrical poems, and begun my creative response to the issue of truth in memoir. Won't Paul be proud? No. He won't.
As well as achieving academic madness and poor health, I have also achieved Augie March for the first time since Falls Festival. It was so nice to see them without a bunch of idiot friends trying to get the attention of their guest guitarist (the quite lovely, talented, and charismatic) Dan Kelly. I went with Emily (and Emily's friend who is lovely but whose name now escapes me entirely.). Emily is much better at being an audience member for Augie March than most of our friends. And it was a lovely, quiet, beautiful show with so many of their older songs (and so many of my favourites) in the mix. They were filming the show and I really hope that it ends up on DVD. If I can't own their acoustic version of Train, with Glen on vox and Kiernan supplying the harmonies on the harmonica, I think I'll just give up on living. It was gorgeous. I want to see them again!! Glen promised a massive tour around mid-year. I CAN'T WAIT THAT LONG!!! It was so worth getting sicker for.
Love.
~K
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| Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
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1:11 pm - What's Your Celtic Animal? - because Ladylardence did it...
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| Your Animal is the Raven |  You have an incredible work ethic and are very tenacious. You like to productive.
No matter what you want in life, you're committed to making it happen.
You are infinitely patient. You are philosophical about life and feel that good things will eventually come.
You believe it's important to carve out your own space in the world. You will change your life until you feel comfortable. |
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| Friday, March 13th, 2009
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12:03 pm - stolen from Kate on FB
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BBC believes the majority of people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.
Which have you read?
Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' after those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.
1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (x)
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (x)
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (x)
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (x)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (x)
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (x).
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (x)
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott (x)
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy (x)
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (x)
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (x)
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (x)
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (x)
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens (x)
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (x)
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (x)
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (x)
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (x)
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens (x)
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (x)
34 Emma - Jane Austen (x)
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen (x)
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (x).
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (x)
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown **SHAN'T. WON'T. STARTED AND WILL NOT FINISH. TOO AWFUL.**
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins (x)
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (x)
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (x)
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen (x)
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (x)
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens (x)
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley **EMILY, YES I WILL READ IT ONE DAY!**
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville (x)
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens (x)
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker (x)
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (x)
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (x)
80 Possession - AS Byatt (x)
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (x)
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchel
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White (x)
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (x)
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton (x)
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (x)
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery (x)
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (x)
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (x)
I've read 44 of them (I think. Numbers are NOT my strong point.), and plan to read quite a few more. Where do the BBC get their data from anyway? I love these lists, though. They're excellent references for that moment at the end of semester when you finally get the luxury to sit down and think "What do I want to read?". Looking forward to it!
~K
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| Monday, March 9th, 2009
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1:52 pm
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I am highly amused to report that my blood test resulted in a diagnoses of mild anemia and a deficiency of vitamins C and D. This, on its own, is not particularly amusing, I'll admit, but what is amusing is that two days after I recieved my results, my dad went to hospital for some testing of his own. He was diagnosed with a hereditary genetic disorder of the joints and arteries and, upon forwarding my medical records to dads doctors, I was found to display symptoms of the same disorder. I repeat: I am amused.
It's a bit of a weird feeling though, to suddenly be diagnosed with a disorder that you've had, without consequence, your entire life. I mean, last week I was healthy, now I am not. I don't feel unwell, but I am not well. It's weird.
Still, I'm not worried. I suppose because I've had asthma for my whole life, and, therefore, I have had the idea of the terrible things that could result from my asthma with me for my whole life, it doesn't bother me that I have something else that carries a threat to my health either. Besides, in both cases the problems that I might develope are relatively easy to identify and to treat, so it's not an issue.
Still, I now have to be vigilant about my body again which is something I have not had to be bothered about for a few years now. I probably should have been, really. Ah, well, so it goes...
~K
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| Thursday, February 26th, 2009
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12:18 pm
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I've been catting around the house for a couple of months now, feeling tired and ill and really low, so, at last, I've decided to go and talk to a doctor about this. My mother seems to think that I've got something wrong with my thyroid, which is a very cheerful prediction, isn't it? Anyway, feeling that a doctor may be better qualified than mum to diagnose such a situation, I've made an appointment. I've been staying pretty calm and positive, as it's hardly likely that I have any thyroid problem and also; so what if i do? It's hardly a killer issue. However, having the doctor tell me to pre-emptively make an appointment to have a blood test has freaked me out a little. This may be the needle phobia talking. Honestly, it'd be really nice to know what this is that's been bugging me. When I think on it, I've been putting up with these problems for years now without anyone ever bothering to actually help me to find out what it is, so it'd be nice to know. It'd also be nice to not have to get my blood tested for deficiencies and diabetes every six months. Because I seriously do hate needles.
So, I have my fingers crossed and I'm ready to put on my courage hat and get this looked into. Diagnoses, ahoy.
~K
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| Saturday, February 7th, 2009
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5:11 pm
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It's the hottest day ever in Melbourne today. No, I'm serious. EVER. This is official business, friends. More land in the state is burned out or a fire front than not right now. This includes a massive fir racing across the Kinglake ranges throwing spot fires and embers down towards St. Andrews, Arthurs Creek, and Nutfield. This is agonisingly close to my childhood home in Hurstbridge, along with all the folk I know up there. The sky even here, in the suburbs, is the yellow-gray of bushfire smoke and the wind is kicking the place around ferociously. We've lost power twice just from strong wind gusts, but haven't had any long term black outs. The other worry we have is about my Aunty, my mother's sister, and her children. They aren't in the fire line near Kilmore yet, but the wind is swinging with the cool change and will soon widen the fire front and push it towards her. Owning horses and cattle as she does, she doesn't want to evacuate, but she's quite worried about her little boys and is still weighing up her options.
My animals are all exhausted and unwell with the heat. They managed a few days of similar temperatures last week but it is really hot today, three or four degrees more than last week, so they're struggling.
It's all stress and worry here today. Hopefully it will pass without incident.
Good luck to everyone!
~K
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| Sunday, February 1st, 2009
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9:11 pm - Because I haven't done a meme in a while.
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IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
7. No cheating and doctoring your list to make yourself look cooler than the person you took this from
Opening Credits:
One Crowded Hour - Augie March
First Day at School:
Nice Day For A Sulk - Belle and Sebastian
Breaking Up:
Stuff and Nonesense - Missy Higgins (cover)
Prom:
Suð Í Eyrum - Sigur Rós
Sex Scene:
Distant Sun - Crowded House
Life’s Ok:
Goobeldigook - Sigur Rós
Mental:
Cherry-Coloured Funk - Cocteau Twins
Flashback:
Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye - Vera Lynn
Getting Back Together:
Goodbye - The Waifs
Wedding Scene:
When Your Mind's Made Up - The Swell Season (Once Soundtrack)
Birth of Child:
Bottle Baby - Augie March
Falling In Love:
No One - Regina Spektor
Final Battle:
Kids - Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue
Death Scene:
Running To Stand Still - U2
End Credits:
Glory Box - Portishead
Not a great soundtrack, I'm afraid. It would sound like it was picked by a rabid monkey going through puberty. Is that the best way to describe my taste in music? :O
~K
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8:50 pm
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I spent this afternoon in a delightful manner. It was Meaghan's birthday a few days ago and, as she turned 21, she hosted a party down in old Carlton town. A perfectly splendid afternoon of chit chatting and watching lawn bowls and having lovely things to eat! The most spectacular present had to be the box full of second-hand romance novels! What a sight to behold! Unfortunately, little kitten Phillip had been crying since five o'clock this morning, so I was too exhausted to stay for long, but it was fun to be there.
Coincidentally, Meaghan shares a birthday with my older brother, though he was born about seven years earlier. So, I was up early on Saturday morning to call him before work. The time differences are much more inconvinient now that he's in Canada, not China. I covered all bases and left a message for him on FaceBook on his (Australian) Birthday, just in case we missed him on his (Canadian) Birthday. So confusing!
In other news: Both my dogs have done themselves injuries to their front legs in the last couple of weeks so I've been running by myself. Aside from the absolute terror I feel, running in the wee hours of the morning all by myself, I've found it much easier. I'm not benefitting much from the lack of resistence that two stubborn dogs generally add, but I feel I'm making up for it in cardio because I'm able to run so much faster! I think I'll probably cut the running out of their daily routine. At seven years old, they're already showing signs of being arthritic and both are allergic to cortosone, so it won't be treatable when they do get it. I think walking will be better for their joints. Though, when the weather cools down, they'll probably get their energy back, and I may have a rethink.
Everyone is suffering in this heat, I think. I've been fainting very frequently because of it, and I'm looking constantly bloated from all the water I've been drinking. Everyone is sniping at one another at the moment, fights erupt every time more than one person is in the house. I can't wait for this summer to end. I love the freedom of having time off from school, and the short amount of time off from work was good too, but I wish it all happened in the depths of winter instead, where I couldn't get heat exhaustion or sunburn. I can't wait for autumn to come! Every morning the sky is a little bit darker when I wake up. It's a calming reminder that the days are changing and that the winter dark is coming, even if it seems like the heat will never end.
Until then, I will be staying indoors as much as possible and trying to stay out of people's ways as their tempers fray in the sun.
~K
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| Saturday, January 24th, 2009
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4:47 pm - Shock: semi-regular posting.
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And so I come crawling back to the blog...
Life's getting busy again, after a long break for summer. I worked an extra shift this week to make up for the Australia Day long weekend so that I wouldn't have to use my holiday hours up on a day I was forced to take off. I also put some hours in at Mum's work as a favour to her, unpacking new laptops and getting rid of all the packaging. On top of this, my personal trainer decided that this week was going to be a cardio week so we did some cross country running in 31 degree heat. So I spent 18.5 hours working and about 20 hours exercising all up. It's practically a full-time job, being me.
So, to give myself some time off, I've been watching the beach cricket which, like twenty20(20twenty?), is like watching the highlights reel of a test match with much more entertaining commentary (especially by the mic'ed players). Oh, and there's sand. Don't worry, though, I haven't suddenly become a sports fan. The only other sport I've taken any notice of is the wrestling matches between the serbian-backing and bosnian-backing tennis fans. The use of a chair on a defenceless onlooking woman was especially creative.
I've also finally gotten around to reading (if not watching) the transcript of Obama's speech. It is a lovely piece of work. Full of grace and heart and vision. It also reads like something out of the West Wing, which brings joy to my girly lit-nerd heart. I hope he lives up to the image he has created. Our own saviour from our warmongering old-man ex-leader has become less satisfying and less visionary by the day.
Life continues to be interesting, one way or another.
~K
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| Friday, January 16th, 2009
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4:28 pm - I'm not sure I like the track names, but I am SO EXCITED ANYWAY!
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1. No Line On The Horizon
2. Magnificent
3. Moment of Surrender
4. Unknown Caller
5. I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight
6. Get On Your Boots
7. Stand Up Comedy
8. Fez - Being Born
9. White As Snow
10. Breathe
11. Cedars of Lebanon
March 2nd can't come soon enough.
Just GUESS whose new album this is... ;D
~K
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| Tuesday, January 6th, 2009
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11:45 am - more news than a facebook status could possibly contain!
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It's been awhile... and I have NEWS. not important enough to be credited with those capital letters, but I'm excitable right now...
1. I have bronchitis! The heady mix of cough syrup, antibiotics, and my asthma medications have made me EXTREMELY EMOTIONALLU UNSTABLE! fun!
2. Matt Smith is the new Dr. Who and, though I will miss David and his amazing hair and stunning good looks, I very much approve. He was a highlight in the Ruby in the Smoke, holding his own on screen with the beacon of charm that is JJ Field. I really hope that his gawky, bean-pole self with his sparkling eyes and odd smile can help him to make yet another incredible Doctor.
3. I have just created a new snack that may be the undoing of my up-til-now relatively healthy lifestyle. Smooth peanut butter spread on plain salted rice crackers. I will stay indoors, hidden in my pantry using the peanut butter like a dip and hissing at anyone who opens the door. It will get to the point where I will get so fat that I will have to be craned out of that position when I die of a heart attack in after about four months of this behaviour. This snack is that unhealthy. and delicious.
4. My brother Matt has been home for christmas after a long stint in China. He leaves tomorrow to go back, briefly, before heading off to Canada for a couple of years. The job he's leaving for is a consulting position which means no more company-sponsored travel to bring him home. I hope this doesn't mean he will stop coming home to visit. Seeing him only a couple of times this year was hard enough.
5. La Trobe University sucks. More than usual. I have been offered honours in English by the English department, and they have lodged my application with the Faculty, but due to a massive admin fuck up with one of my other subjects (not an English one), my application can't be approved. Despite weeks of trying, I can't get anyone to tell me when (or, I shudder to add, if) my application will go through or even when I might get the marks for this class that is holding everything up, or if it will affect my re-enrolment (it has already delayed me by a month and I do NOT want to miss the final re-enrolment date and have to figure everything out during first semester). On top of this, having bronchitis means I can't contact anyone useful to help me out. I hate La Trobe.
6. My parents have rented a beach house for the year, which is excellent news as it means I can disappear whenever I get in a caged-tiger mood and have some free time. Even better than that, it also means that my parents are currently away (giving me a break of a different kind) and will be going away during other school holidays. This year I may just get some peace over my uni breaks! (That, of course, assumes I actually get back to uni. Bastards.)
So 2009 has started off leaning towards the 'it totally bites' end of the '90s-style rate-my-reality scale, but it seems to be heading towards the 'rad' end of the scale at a steady pace!
~K
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| Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
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4:08 pm - An assignment, completed last night, for a writing autobiography class
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Note: This is mainly for the benefit of Ms. Meaghan.
( I shit you not )
apologies for the 'I can't be bothered' attitude towards formatting!
~K
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| Sunday, March 16th, 2008
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7:18 pm
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Gosh, two days, two posts. I am busy, aren't I?
No. I'm not.
I just re-read my post about February. I actually managed to be so lazy as to not achieve one of the four things on my to-do list for the month. Potato Bread. I haven't baked in almost a month and a half, so I failed on that count. I feel a complete and utter waste of space at the moment. I've found time to fall in love with TV again though. What a triumph of human achievement.
To be fair to myself, though, Robin Hood does have the most delicious cast. I'm not sure how I was ever supposed to resist it. I never had a chance.
So, is anyone else feeling like 2008 never really started? Like it's just kind of rolled along in its banks like a river in summer? Nothing has happened and nothing means anything and nothing really matters at all? I'm feeling like that. But it could just be because I'm withdrawing from society once more, exhausted by socialising but feeling shockingly lonely without it. Not a good place to be.
And I'm pretty sure I should be kicking into gear for the first round of essays this semester.
Not to mention trying to figure out what kinds of grad jobs I might be able to snag or even be interested in snagging. Or if I even feel like doing a grad job at all...
BLAH.
~K
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| Saturday, March 15th, 2008
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2:53 pm - I'm doing a poetry workshop this semester...
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I have a few bits and bobs I want to share. It's been quite a while since I've written any poetry whatsoever and I'm not to confident with it anymore, especially since the writing exercises/homework seem always to restrict and destroy my work rather than helping me to improve so it's up to all you out there on Lj (who still use it, that is) to help me, or not, as you see fit.
Eve, Embittered, Asked
If you truly believe that I am sprung
From some insignificant part
Of your greater whole
How small then, do you think,
I would have to make myself
In order to slot
Back into place?
and how much torture, do you think,
I would be willing to endure
For the so called privilege
Of finding myself
Nearer your heart?
Adam would Answer
You grew, my rib, like a tumour
And so you, my rib, were cast out
But still, my rib, you plague me
I've a hole, my rib, where you were
That must, my rib, be filled
So I, my rib, must whittle you down
To, my rib, a managable size
To plug the hole
And protect my weakness
From the barbs that seek my heart.
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King Ludwig drowned in 6 inches of water
Powerful shoulders struggling on muddy rocks
I know what it's like to feel you lungs
Filling with water
Knowing your should be able
To save yourself
But somehow unable to try
Those chilly 6 inches of water
Rush into my mouth
And I can feel my teeth freeze
Just before I gasp
Those violent 6 inches of water
Glug past his airpipe valve
He contrasts the fire of pain
With the water's ice
King Ludwig has a big love
Who never loved him back
And I know what it's like to feel your lungs filling with water.
____________________________________________________________________
**Both are responses to an exercise. Our stimulus was an article about a woman who drowned her lover in a lake after he had beaten her for several years.
It may not be a great course, it may not stimulate my best work, but at least it's forcing me to start writing again. I'm sure once it starts flowing more naturally I will regain some confidence and (hopefully) improve somewhat.
~K
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| Tuesday, January 29th, 2008
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2:10 pm - Just clearing my head, really...
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So, I still haven't bothered to see about changing my subjects for this semester... I really should do that before classes start, eh? I think I only need to change one for this semester but semester two is comprised entirely of subjects I can do, but don't want to do but put on my forms in order to enroll without having to actually go in to uni... So my laziness comes back to bite me every once in a while.
I've pretty much given up on February this year. There's no hope for it. My plans for February are:
1. Change subjects
2. Learn how to bake potato bread
3. Buy a kitten
4. Sit about
Gosh, I hope I can fit it all in.
On an unrelated topic: Who here hates work? I hate work. I'm beginning to think that's it's not my job that I hate, it's work itself. Perhaps I am so lazy and so lacking in ambition that I would hate any job simply because of the effort involved in turning up and doing it. Like, I have to get ready and go to my car and drive and then park and then walk in and work and then walk back to my car and drive home again and oh, how awful and tedious it all is.
Also, I think the fact that I seem to have no future is contributing to this. If I manage not to give up and bury myself in the hope that death will get the hint and hurry up, I will finish uni at the end of this year and walk away with an utterly useless BA with an English major. What the fuck? I have no practical skills whatsoever. Unless I want to write essays for the rest of forever. Then I'm fine. Except that I really don't. What a waste.
I think mum wants me to go to Beijing with her, when she goes sometime in the middle of this year. I'm not sure she realises that my lack of money and desire to be anywhere that she is not may hinder such plans. I don't want to use my birthday present overseas ticket to go to China. I want to go to Dublin, as I have been planning since I was 15. As if I never made that COMPLETELY clear. I mean, it'd be nice to visit Matthew in Beijing, but I'd much rather wait until he moves somewhere in Europe and mooch off him there.
...So you know when you're sort of dancing whilst doing something else, like making toast, and some one sees you and you try to pass it off as if you were cold or stretching or something but you don't know how long they were there watching you so you never really know if you got away with it, but always suspect you didn't and hope that you did... We have lots of tradesmen in the house at the moment... yeah.
Also: I am pathetic.
What a surprise all this was to me. I thought I was unshakeable.
~K
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| Sunday, January 6th, 2008
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2:53 pm - The View From Here:
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theelk's journal