Dang this is funny
Step 1!
Sunday, December 31, 2006
Friday, December 29, 2006
Rundown
Not much has happened in the last few days
Tues - Stayed home to avoid bankrupting myself at the sales, practiced cycling.
Wed - Spent the whole day at uni re-sectioning and then went home to practice cycling
Thurs - Went to AL's place for the Big Breakfast party she was throwing that turned out to be lunch, went to uni at 1pm and spent the rest of the day sectioning, visited Akina at work, had dinner with Thai, had drinks with Amandine
Fri - Practiced cycling
The only really interesting this is I saw a snake and a lizard when cycling today.
Tues - Stayed home to avoid bankrupting myself at the sales, practiced cycling.
Wed - Spent the whole day at uni re-sectioning and then went home to practice cycling
Thurs - Went to AL's place for the Big Breakfast party she was throwing that turned out to be lunch, went to uni at 1pm and spent the rest of the day sectioning, visited Akina at work, had dinner with Thai, had drinks with Amandine
Fri - Practiced cycling
The only really interesting this is I saw a snake and a lizard when cycling today.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Movie Review - Casino Royale
I am a fan of the James Bond films. I am one of the many who think Sean Connery is the best one. So where in the scheme of things does Casino Royale stack up to me? Well. Very well.
Casino Royale is the 21st Bond film (in the official EON lineup), and the first to star Daniel Craig. Like a number of other recent films which followed established franchises (Batman Begins, Superman Returns), CR goes back to tell how Bond became 'Bond'. Based loosely on the first novel by Ian Fleming, Bond is attempting to take down the villian Le Chiffre, 'banker to the terrorists', by bankrupting him in a high-stakes Texas Hold'Em competition at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. As befitting the re-load status of this film, a lot of the things which denote a Bond film has been taken away, such Q and his gadgets. But on the flipside, we see Bond acquire the accoutrements of 'Bond', from the '00' status (in the opening sequence), the car (the classic Aston Martin DB5 and new Aston Martin DBS - ooh lala!), the tux, the vodka martini, the name introduction and the womanising.
There was a measure of *oh, this film is gonna bomb* thinking around CR following the dumping of the popular Pierce Brosnan and the casting of Craig's was met with a general 'who!??!' as well as media revelations that he couldn't drive manual, and had to turn up to a press conference wearing a lifejacket. This is probably the lowest profile Bond cast in ages following the casting of Eva Green, another not so high profile actor (especially considering the shortlist for the role allegedly included Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Aishwarya Rai, and Scarlett Johanssen), and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre. But you know what? High-profile people, who gives a damn so long as the actors are convincing in their roles! (Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist? WHATEVER!!!) And they are convincing! Craig doesn't go throughout the movie with a permanent smirk, instead he's quite good at showing the semi-psychopathic tendencies that might belong to someone who hides their true identity and kills for a living! Eva Green is BEE-YOO-TEE-FUL as the Treasury agent Vesper Lynd, nicely icy when faced when Bond is annoying, but also vulnerable when made to face what his career actually involves.
But it's more than just hiring the right people which makes this movie so effective. For one, the plot is actually believable compared to some of the more recent ones (e.g. the Media Baron starting a war so he can increase profits in Tomorrow Never Dies). Le Chiffre set up the game because after losing over $100,000,000 that belongs to an African Guerrilla guy of some sort, he REALLY NEEDS to win big quickly. Bond is less of the flip joker and more an actual spy whose actions potentially affect the lives of many people - his eyes are on the prize and he even gives up seducing a woman to chase a terrorist! That's not to say he can't be funny - the scenes when he confronts Vesper about the suit she ordered for him, hilarity in a purely normal way. However, if there is a fall person, its M - a degree of humour comes from Bond breaking classified information about her. The action sequences are less stunt-laden and cartoonish (e.g. the invisible car in Die Another Day). And man, when this movie starts the action, it doesn't let up! But the real tension comes the poker game itself! It was just like watching the tennis sequences in Wimbledon.
Casino Royale is a great movie that takes something that had become a cliched parody of itself and made it new. I don't know if its the best Bond ever - it has a lot of nostalgia to beat - but it's certainly one of the better ones and one of the better movies of 2006.
8/10
P.S. The song is pretty nifty too
Casino Royale is the 21st Bond film (in the official EON lineup), and the first to star Daniel Craig. Like a number of other recent films which followed established franchises (Batman Begins, Superman Returns), CR goes back to tell how Bond became 'Bond'. Based loosely on the first novel by Ian Fleming, Bond is attempting to take down the villian Le Chiffre, 'banker to the terrorists', by bankrupting him in a high-stakes Texas Hold'Em competition at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. As befitting the re-load status of this film, a lot of the things which denote a Bond film has been taken away, such Q and his gadgets. But on the flipside, we see Bond acquire the accoutrements of 'Bond', from the '00' status (in the opening sequence), the car (the classic Aston Martin DB5 and new Aston Martin DBS - ooh lala!), the tux, the vodka martini, the name introduction and the womanising.
There was a measure of *oh, this film is gonna bomb* thinking around CR following the dumping of the popular Pierce Brosnan and the casting of Craig's was met with a general 'who!??!' as well as media revelations that he couldn't drive manual, and had to turn up to a press conference wearing a lifejacket. This is probably the lowest profile Bond cast in ages following the casting of Eva Green, another not so high profile actor (especially considering the shortlist for the role allegedly included Angelina Jolie, Charlize Theron, Aishwarya Rai, and Scarlett Johanssen), and Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre. But you know what? High-profile people, who gives a damn so long as the actors are convincing in their roles! (Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist? WHATEVER!!!) And they are convincing! Craig doesn't go throughout the movie with a permanent smirk, instead he's quite good at showing the semi-psychopathic tendencies that might belong to someone who hides their true identity and kills for a living! Eva Green is BEE-YOO-TEE-FUL as the Treasury agent Vesper Lynd, nicely icy when faced when Bond is annoying, but also vulnerable when made to face what his career actually involves.
But it's more than just hiring the right people which makes this movie so effective. For one, the plot is actually believable compared to some of the more recent ones (e.g. the Media Baron starting a war so he can increase profits in Tomorrow Never Dies). Le Chiffre set up the game because after losing over $100,000,000 that belongs to an African Guerrilla guy of some sort, he REALLY NEEDS to win big quickly. Bond is less of the flip joker and more an actual spy whose actions potentially affect the lives of many people - his eyes are on the prize and he even gives up seducing a woman to chase a terrorist! That's not to say he can't be funny - the scenes when he confronts Vesper about the suit she ordered for him, hilarity in a purely normal way. However, if there is a fall person, its M - a degree of humour comes from Bond breaking classified information about her. The action sequences are less stunt-laden and cartoonish (e.g. the invisible car in Die Another Day). And man, when this movie starts the action, it doesn't let up! But the real tension comes the poker game itself! It was just like watching the tennis sequences in Wimbledon.
Casino Royale is a great movie that takes something that had become a cliched parody of itself and made it new. I don't know if its the best Bond ever - it has a lot of nostalgia to beat - but it's certainly one of the better ones and one of the better movies of 2006.
8/10
P.S. The song is pretty nifty too
Monday, December 25, 2006
Merry Christmas, y'all!
I know this may sound like sacrilege, but I don't put much stock in Christmas cos as kids we never really celebrated it so there's no history of gift giving/receiving. It was just a day off when the shops were closed and tv programming was terrible! That's kinda changed as we got more integrated into society and while there's still not gift exchange and the TV is still bad, we sure do celebrate it with a big family get together!
This year it was bigger than usual - there were ppl present I swear I haven't seen in 20 years, and even some I'd never met before. Here are some pics:
Some of the food
And we discovered that 'Milly has an unexplicable love for Spuey - choosing to go to him instead of her own MOTHER! - and using him as an adventure playground.
I'd also like to mention these mince pies that Cam gave me as a present. I'm not sure how they were decided to be *exceedingly good*, but that labelling sure gave me a laugh.
This year it was bigger than usual - there were ppl present I swear I haven't seen in 20 years, and even some I'd never met before. Here are some pics:
Some of the food
Dad frying more (why he's wearing that plastic thing, I don't know)
Lobster heads for all! 
Random people eating
We don't see many babies and spent a lot of time playing and photographing ourselves with them:
Random people eating
And we discovered that 'Milly has an unexplicable love for Spuey - choosing to go to him instead of her own MOTHER! - and using him as an adventure playground.
E also somehow discovered how to take photos of himself. How asian!
In all, much fun.
All photos are online (soon) at http://mallymoodlespics.shutterfly.com (pword = 12345)
In all, much fun.I'd also like to mention these mince pies that Cam gave me as a present. I'm not sure how they were decided to be *exceedingly good*, but that labelling sure gave me a laugh.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Learning to Ride
For the past 25 years and four months, I have not been able to ride a bike. That changed this month when Poosy declared that after 27 years, she was finally going to learn and would start by actually buying a bike. While I've never felt a burning desire to learn I have conceded that so long as I never could ride I would probably never be able to compete in The Amazing Race, so now that a bike was in our possession, I decided it was also time for me to learn!
My announcement to people that I was going to learn was met with bewilderment that I had never learned as a child to welcoming enthusiasm and flat-out amusement. I got a lot of comments such as "Are you gonna use training wheels?" Haha. "No really! Man, I'd love to see an adult bike with training wheels!"
Pooey began by practicing riding up and down the 15-20m path in our backyard. About a fortnight ago, I first climbed on the bike about and amazed Pooey when I immediately rode about 5-10m. Now that Pooey is gone, I've decided to be more dilligent and soon the path became too small. So today Spuey and I took the bike down to our local bush park where there's a path about 1.5km or so long. And I kept riding it until I could do the whole course without stopping. And now I can!
Hooray!
It was kind of galling to have kids a fraction of my age passing me though. Grrr.....
My announcement to people that I was going to learn was met with bewilderment that I had never learned as a child to welcoming enthusiasm and flat-out amusement. I got a lot of comments such as "Are you gonna use training wheels?" Haha. "No really! Man, I'd love to see an adult bike with training wheels!"
Pooey began by practicing riding up and down the 15-20m path in our backyard. About a fortnight ago, I first climbed on the bike about and amazed Pooey when I immediately rode about 5-10m. Now that Pooey is gone, I've decided to be more dilligent and soon the path became too small. So today Spuey and I took the bike down to our local bush park where there's a path about 1.5km or so long. And I kept riding it until I could do the whole course without stopping. And now I can!
Hooray!
It was kind of galling to have kids a fraction of my age passing me though. Grrr.....
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
New personal best!
Six hours (11-5) on the cryostat today!
Although I suppose I should remove 30 minutes I took for lunch and however long I took to dissect an eye for sectioning...
I've got seven blocks to go before I can restart the staining!
Although I suppose I should remove 30 minutes I took for lunch and however long I took to dissect an eye for sectioning...
I've got seven blocks to go before I can restart the staining!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Never heard of this character
Your results:
You are Iron Man
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
You are Iron Man
| Inventor. Businessman. Genius. |
Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The honeymoon is OVER, baby!
Omg...first big hurdle of my PhD has just been thrown into the mix - the cell counting that I've been doing for the last few months have to be repeated right from the beginning. I have to recut the sections, restain, recount.
O.
M.
G.
Well, I don't have to rekill the animals, I guess that's a small blessing
O.
M.
G.
Well, I don't have to rekill the animals, I guess that's a small blessing
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Played it last night at Kahunas! And I had fun! I think I might break my no-consoles rule!!!!
The Marriage of Figaro
I have a new favourite opera performance!!! I've written previously about my oft misunderstood enjoyment of opera (here) but if there's one that everyone can enjoy, its The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart/daPonte. I saw the revival of the 2002 Neil Armfield production (costume and set design based on Goya) last night and it was absolutely brilliant!
A short synopsis for the people too lazy to click the link, the story takes place about five years after the events in The Barber of Seville, on the day that Figaro, former barber and currently valet for Count Almaviva, is about to marry his sweetie Susanna. Susanna is the personal maid to the Countess, Rosina, whom Figaro brought together with the Count in Seville. As times have changed, the Almaviva is now an unfaithful husband with Susanna as his next target, but also terribly jealous of any man who may have an eye for his Countess - particularly the pageboy Cherubino who has just hit puberty. Hijinks ensue as Figaro, Susanna, Rosina and his tenants attempt to thwart Almaviva's plans to debauch Susanna and send Cherubino to the army, while also returning him to the Countess' loving arms.
Watching the production unfold, I remembered what a funny story Figaro is, and I guess that's one of the drawbacks of listening to opera on CD. Watching the acting and translation with the music - soooo many lol moments along with the enjoyment of so many familiar arias! Richard Alexander and Tiffany Speight were terrific and equally matched as the quick-witted Figaro and Susanna running rings around Almaviva. Alexander was just the cheeky and slightly rotund Figaro I always picture in my mind! Leanne Kenneally was fantastic at portraying Rosina's sadness that the good times between her and Almaviva seem to be gone in the aria Dove sono? but also shows her backbone of steel for wanting to exert a bit of reveng on him. Joslyn Rechter had Cherubino's male walk and loose limbs down pat, but the real star of the show is Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Almaviva.
Cheating bastards aren't usually my thing but Tahu Rhodes plays him with such charm and charisma that you kind of feel like Barbarina who'd give in to the seduction when he promises you everything! From the moment he walks into Susanna's room barefoot with his shirt open and wearing a velvet robe, you see this is a guy who is not normally denied anything he wants. Act II is even better as he storms around Rosina's chamber using every wile he possesses to make her open the door to her dressing room where Cherubino is hiding, from seduction (pictured) to breaking it down with an axe. And upon finding Susanna in the closet, to be so shocked as to just let the axe drop! But he doesn't have it all his way with buffoonish moments such as in Act III his *Omigod, don't talk about this now!* reaction when Barbarina mentions his promise in public to coerce the Count into allowing Cherubino to stay, and when Susanna under Rosina's orders turns on the seduction to get Almaviva to meet her later in the garden...the way the 6'5 Tahu Rhodes mimicks the coquettish dance around the props, sheer hilarity!
Figaro is probably one of the best operas you can be introduced to due to the hilarious storyline and familiar music. And it is familiar because seriously, the music from this opera has been played everywhere. As Ruilin said to me after the first act: "I wanna buy a subscription!" Yeah! (Now maybe OperaAustralia will put more productions on in Melbourne *grumble grumble*)
A short synopsis for the people too lazy to click the link, the story takes place about five years after the events in The Barber of Seville, on the day that Figaro, former barber and currently valet for Count Almaviva, is about to marry his sweetie Susanna. Susanna is the personal maid to the Countess, Rosina, whom Figaro brought together with the Count in Seville. As times have changed, the Almaviva is now an unfaithful husband with Susanna as his next target, but also terribly jealous of any man who may have an eye for his Countess - particularly the pageboy Cherubino who has just hit puberty. Hijinks ensue as Figaro, Susanna, Rosina and his tenants attempt to thwart Almaviva's plans to debauch Susanna and send Cherubino to the army, while also returning him to the Countess' loving arms.
Watching the production unfold, I remembered what a funny story Figaro is, and I guess that's one of the drawbacks of listening to opera on CD. Watching the acting and translation with the music - soooo many lol moments along with the enjoyment of so many familiar arias! Richard Alexander and Tiffany Speight were terrific and equally matched as the quick-witted Figaro and Susanna running rings around Almaviva. Alexander was just the cheeky and slightly rotund Figaro I always picture in my mind! Leanne Kenneally was fantastic at portraying Rosina's sadness that the good times between her and Almaviva seem to be gone in the aria Dove sono? but also shows her backbone of steel for wanting to exert a bit of reveng on him. Joslyn Rechter had Cherubino's male walk and loose limbs down pat, but the real star of the show is Teddy Tahu Rhodes as Almaviva.
Cheating bastards aren't usually my thing but Tahu Rhodes plays him with such charm and charisma that you kind of feel like Barbarina who'd give in to the seduction when he promises you everything! From the moment he walks into Susanna's room barefoot with his shirt open and wearing a velvet robe, you see this is a guy who is not normally denied anything he wants. Act II is even better as he storms around Rosina's chamber using every wile he possesses to make her open the door to her dressing room where Cherubino is hiding, from seduction (pictured) to breaking it down with an axe. And upon finding Susanna in the closet, to be so shocked as to just let the axe drop! But he doesn't have it all his way with buffoonish moments such as in Act III his *Omigod, don't talk about this now!* reaction when Barbarina mentions his promise in public to coerce the Count into allowing Cherubino to stay, and when Susanna under Rosina's orders turns on the seduction to get Almaviva to meet her later in the garden...the way the 6'5 Tahu Rhodes mimicks the coquettish dance around the props, sheer hilarity!Figaro is probably one of the best operas you can be introduced to due to the hilarious storyline and familiar music. And it is familiar because seriously, the music from this opera has been played everywhere. As Ruilin said to me after the first act: "I wanna buy a subscription!" Yeah! (Now maybe OperaAustralia will put more productions on in Melbourne *grumble grumble*)
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Book review: Train Man
Last Friday, Pooey and Jade needed to go shopping and drinking but I didn't really feel like coming along so I sequestered myself in one of my favoured bookshops and waited for them to get ready to eat. They say you should never judge a book by its cover but while I was perusing the shelves I found a book that looked so cute, I had to pick it up and read it! And the book was really cute!!!
Train Man (Densha Otoko in the original japanese) tells the story of a 22yo otaku (computery anime geek) who one day intervenes when a drunk starts hassling women on the Tokyo metro. After the drunk gets arrested, the women ask for his address so they can thank him...and imagine his surprise when the young attractive one sends him a pair of Hermès teacups as a present. The book chronicles his metamorphosis from a guy who has never been on a date (or possibly even looked a girl in the eye) to a more confident guy who gets the girl.
Sure, I know what you're thinking Oh, it's just another Mallymoodle romance book. WRONG! What makes the book is that it's a translation of the real forum postings that Train Man wrote on 2Channel and the advice, comments, and reactions of his fellow board posters. I said he was a computer geek! Being somewhat geeky myself, I could really see the reactions of the fellow posters and cheer on Train Man as he went after Lady Hermès. And you've got to admit to the warm fuzzy feeling when you realise that all these strangers are cheering on someone they dont know and probably never will.
It's hard to describe what made the book such a great read. I can imagine that people might find the postings difficult to read or even gimmicky. There's no 'characterisation' in the formal sense. Whether or not the situation seems credible or not will depend on your personal mindset, I suppose. What is realistic is when the various geeks wait for Train on the forum for updates, how they band together in mock battle as Train shares the details of various dates, and share in turn their tales of woe as they marvel at how Train's little acts of confidence deliver for him. It's almost enough to be a little more forgiving of the various people who hit on me. Almost. There is also the question about authenticity. The identities of Train and Hermès have never been publicly revealed...but when I typed in the urls listed in some of the postings, they really existed. There is also a lot of geeky things like ASCI art so that might annoy some too.
But seriously. Its a cute book and an entertaining read. I'm not sure how widely available it is here, but read it if you can!
Train Man (Densha Otoko in the original japanese) tells the story of a 22yo otaku (computery anime geek) who one day intervenes when a drunk starts hassling women on the Tokyo metro. After the drunk gets arrested, the women ask for his address so they can thank him...and imagine his surprise when the young attractive one sends him a pair of Hermès teacups as a present. The book chronicles his metamorphosis from a guy who has never been on a date (or possibly even looked a girl in the eye) to a more confident guy who gets the girl.
Sure, I know what you're thinking Oh, it's just another Mallymoodle romance book. WRONG! What makes the book is that it's a translation of the real forum postings that Train Man wrote on 2Channel and the advice, comments, and reactions of his fellow board posters. I said he was a computer geek! Being somewhat geeky myself, I could really see the reactions of the fellow posters and cheer on Train Man as he went after Lady Hermès. And you've got to admit to the warm fuzzy feeling when you realise that all these strangers are cheering on someone they dont know and probably never will.
It's hard to describe what made the book such a great read. I can imagine that people might find the postings difficult to read or even gimmicky. There's no 'characterisation' in the formal sense. Whether or not the situation seems credible or not will depend on your personal mindset, I suppose. What is realistic is when the various geeks wait for Train on the forum for updates, how they band together in mock battle as Train shares the details of various dates, and share in turn their tales of woe as they marvel at how Train's little acts of confidence deliver for him. It's almost enough to be a little more forgiving of the various people who hit on me. Almost. There is also the question about authenticity. The identities of Train and Hermès have never been publicly revealed...but when I typed in the urls listed in some of the postings, they really existed. There is also a lot of geeky things like ASCI art so that might annoy some too.
But seriously. Its a cute book and an entertaining read. I'm not sure how widely available it is here, but read it if you can!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Adey's 26th Birthday blowout
(I didn't think my words could do justice to this party, but Kirms has requested this entry.)
On a horridly hot, muggy, smoggy day, the night started off at The Metropol at 7:20pm because Marta, Krijn and I were early. A jug of sangria later, we sat back and watched the crowd and waited for Adey + mates to roll up.
And roll up they did! Pretty much as soon as he arrived, the festivities (i.e. us trying to get him drunk) began. There was also ice-cream cake which was awesome but quite difficult to eat due to the difficulty of us finding a staff member who could/would get us knives, plates and spoons. There is a photo of Adey giving up and actually drinking the cake somewhere.
Another note about the Metropol - don't order the tapas. Not because it's bad, its quite good, but because each serving has about 3 items on a giant plate *eye roll* and it was hugely overpriced. It was recommended that 3 plates is enough for 2 people to share. We ordered 15 plates for 5 people...we had to order extra food due to our hunger and to line our stomachs for the alcohol. The tapas might also have been the reason why we had to wait ONE HOUR for the food to arrive. There was a lot of questioning the staff about whether they had our order ready or not.
Anyway, since the crowd was standard St. Kilda - little girls in little dresses...many with questionable fashion taste, the boys were in heaven. Marlene and I on the other hand complained about the quality of the males. Tsk. Around about midnight or so we decided to find ourselves a classier crowd of people...but we went to The Elephant & Wheelbarrow anyway :-P
There....things got a little bit more raucus. There were more shots, a *body shot*, a huge line to get into the ladies' loo, a lot of smirnoff blacks, I remember hitting Ash in the face, and a bunch of guys rubbing their 1, 2, 3 and 5 day growths against my face when I complained about someone being hairy.
I pulledup alright the next day, but two days later, Adey, Ash and Kirm are still eating deep fried foods. And with that, I declare the party a job well done!
On a horridly hot, muggy, smoggy day, the night started off at The Metropol at 7:20pm because Marta, Krijn and I were early. A jug of sangria later, we sat back and watched the crowd and waited for Adey + mates to roll up.
And roll up they did! Pretty much as soon as he arrived, the festivities (i.e. us trying to get him drunk) began. There was also ice-cream cake which was awesome but quite difficult to eat due to the difficulty of us finding a staff member who could/would get us knives, plates and spoons. There is a photo of Adey giving up and actually drinking the cake somewhere.
Another note about the Metropol - don't order the tapas. Not because it's bad, its quite good, but because each serving has about 3 items on a giant plate *eye roll* and it was hugely overpriced. It was recommended that 3 plates is enough for 2 people to share. We ordered 15 plates for 5 people...we had to order extra food due to our hunger and to line our stomachs for the alcohol. The tapas might also have been the reason why we had to wait ONE HOUR for the food to arrive. There was a lot of questioning the staff about whether they had our order ready or not.
Anyway, since the crowd was standard St. Kilda - little girls in little dresses...many with questionable fashion taste, the boys were in heaven. Marlene and I on the other hand complained about the quality of the males. Tsk. Around about midnight or so we decided to find ourselves a classier crowd of people...but we went to The Elephant & Wheelbarrow anyway :-P
There....things got a little bit more raucus. There were more shots, a *body shot*, a huge line to get into the ladies' loo, a lot of smirnoff blacks, I remember hitting Ash in the face, and a bunch of guys rubbing their 1, 2, 3 and 5 day growths against my face when I complained about someone being hairy.
I pulledup alright the next day, but two days later, Adey, Ash and Kirm are still eating deep fried foods. And with that, I declare the party a job well done!
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Shoe dilemma
I was going through my closet cos tonight is Adey's 26th birthday party and I was looking for a suitable outfit when I came across these lovely shoes that Miss Pooky gave me as a present last year.
The reality of these shoes is that Miss Pooky bought them out of love but discovered that the angle combined with the heel size meant that she couldn't actually walk in them. Knowing that I'm a handy traveller in impossible shoes, she gave them to me, I proved my ability by traipsing around in them from her place to FM Karaoke, and back again. The fact that they don't match my general wardrobe colours (comprising of blacks, reds, pinks, and other bright jewel colours) and the right shoe needed an extra hole punched into them limited their wear by me.
But times have now changed and I've got a bit more white and blue in my closet...although I was thinking of pairing them with a plain black dress. I got the holes punched into them today so I was trying them on in the bathroom...when I caught of sight of them in the mirror. They actually look REALLY painful! Please ignore my disgusting feet and the dirty tiles to check it out:
I don't know what to do know cos I have a feeling we'll be out for a while tonight.
The reality of these shoes is that Miss Pooky bought them out of love but discovered that the angle combined with the heel size meant that she couldn't actually walk in them. Knowing that I'm a handy traveller in impossible shoes, she gave them to me, I proved my ability by traipsing around in them from her place to FM Karaoke, and back again. The fact that they don't match my general wardrobe colours (comprising of blacks, reds, pinks, and other bright jewel colours) and the right shoe needed an extra hole punched into them limited their wear by me.But times have now changed and I've got a bit more white and blue in my closet...although I was thinking of pairing them with a plain black dress. I got the holes punched into them today so I was trying them on in the bathroom...when I caught of sight of them in the mirror. They actually look REALLY painful! Please ignore my disgusting feet and the dirty tiles to check it out:
I don't know what to do know cos I have a feeling we'll be out for a while tonight.Thursday, December 07, 2006
SATC complete series on DVD!
Here is a pack of the thing that has financially broken me. And below is the stuff that came in the kit!
Totally worth it!
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Skint
Omg, only one week into Christmas shopping and I'm already broke! Admittedly a few of the presents are for yours truly *cough SATC complete season *cough* but it's still a shocking state of affairs!
Monday, December 04, 2006
Funny day
Mondays can get pretty strange due to the re-jigging of routine after the sloth and alcohol of the weekend, and today was pretty weird.
It started with me waking up at 6:30am thinking I was late. The really weird bit is that I didn't have anything that was concretely planned that had to be done. I got to the bus stop at the adequate time of 8:30. We passed a bus on the way to the stop so I felt pretty confident that I would get it. When we got to the stop, there was a bus already sitting there and I walked towards it. Imagine my surprise when it pulled away. *No matter,* I thought, *There's always the one we passed.* Then, imagine my horror when it didn't even stop!!!
There were a few more strange happenings today that I can't be bothered going into, but one that is a bit amusing...despite it being Monday, I still somehow found myself drinking hard spirits at 6:30pm. Go figure. And a nosebleed at 9pm. Interesting day.
And before the day is through, I'd just like to wish Lydia a happy 23rd birthday. Hooray!
It started with me waking up at 6:30am thinking I was late. The really weird bit is that I didn't have anything that was concretely planned that had to be done. I got to the bus stop at the adequate time of 8:30. We passed a bus on the way to the stop so I felt pretty confident that I would get it. When we got to the stop, there was a bus already sitting there and I walked towards it. Imagine my surprise when it pulled away. *No matter,* I thought, *There's always the one we passed.* Then, imagine my horror when it didn't even stop!!!
There were a few more strange happenings today that I can't be bothered going into, but one that is a bit amusing...despite it being Monday, I still somehow found myself drinking hard spirits at 6:30pm. Go figure. And a nosebleed at 9pm. Interesting day.
And before the day is through, I'd just like to wish Lydia a happy 23rd birthday. Hooray!
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Sumi Jo, Ravel and Childhood
Well, I spent another evening listening to a highly publicised opera singer who sang a few pieces, and an orchestra that played a lot.That's not to say that Sumi Jo didn't sing well (indeed, she sang her roles beautifully) but the main role, The Child, in the choral piece presented to us L'Enfant et les sortileges is for a mezzo.
No matter. I really enjoyed it and liked the theme of childhood, particularly the 'Toy'Symphony by Leopold Mozart. Very cute.
In a fortnight, The Marriage of Figaro!
No matter. I really enjoyed it and liked the theme of childhood, particularly the 'Toy'Symphony by Leopold Mozart. Very cute.
In a fortnight, The Marriage of Figaro!
General stuff
I have decided to switch to the beta version cos I like how the archiving shows up as individual posts...should anyone (snort) decide they want to read over back entries, its a bit easier now!
In other news, it was an unfulfilling week in research. I did a lot of lab work that was ok (connexin stainings), inconclusive (blood vessel vs pericyte staining), or downright didn't work (calcium loading). So here are some photos.
Ok, the arrows in this pic is pointing to labelling of cx43 - a molecule that occurs at the junctions of particular cells. We are of the belief that these junctional molecules disappear in the disease. The bad thing about this photo is that i really had to jack up the background colour so that we could see the location of the dots in relation to everything else. Next time, I'm gonna use a counter-stain.
This one labels for cx26 - similar to cx43 but not dotty. We wanted dots.
This is a whole mounted retina labelled for NG2, and shows blood vessels. The lumpy things sticking out of the vessels are cell bodies. Huzzah for geeks!
In other news, it was an unfulfilling week in research. I did a lot of lab work that was ok (connexin stainings), inconclusive (blood vessel vs pericyte staining), or downright didn't work (calcium loading). So here are some photos.
Ok, the arrows in this pic is pointing to labelling of cx43 - a molecule that occurs at the junctions of particular cells. We are of the belief that these junctional molecules disappear in the disease. The bad thing about this photo is that i really had to jack up the background colour so that we could see the location of the dots in relation to everything else. Next time, I'm gonna use a counter-stain.
This one labels for cx26 - similar to cx43 but not dotty. We wanted dots.
This is a whole mounted retina labelled for NG2, and shows blood vessels. The lumpy things sticking out of the vessels are cell bodies. Huzzah for geeks!
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