Outside a dog a book is man's best friend

1794

Sat, 02 Jan 2010 10:05:20 GMT

I am back from the beach. But more impotantly:

Today I heald and read (and held) a newspaper (London Times) printed in 1794.

I kid you not!

Also I saw a first Edition of Animal Farm, also held a book from 1657, which was bound in Vellum.

BookSquee!

9 courses of fun! Part the 2nd

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 05:52:44 GMT

2:15pm (4 1/4 hours to go!!)

Oh the drama!! So, Chelsea went to start the ice-cream but she realised that she'd forgotten the beater for the ice-cream maker - a crucial part! Therefore we took a road trip!! A perfect time for last minute planning, and a progress check.

There are two courses cooking, another setting and one standing, that's four (mostly) done, another course only requires plating (it's a cheese platter) which leaves us with only four courses to worry about - as well as all the last minute-y bits, but they don't count.

We collected the beater from Chelsea's house, made a pit-stop for petrol - and the pump wouldn't work - I suspect it heard what a hurry we're in today and conspired with all of the red lights we needed to pass through in order to slow us down - but I could be paranoid....

We also stopped for slushies - totally essential!! Mmmm pinkalicious :-)

So current activities:

Chelsea is closely monitoring the ice-cream - she might be staring into the ice-cream maker with a concentration bordering in insane...and I am about to start examining strawberries - how exciting :-)

I was not bordering on insanity. I was just making sure nothing went wrong. *grin*
I also began making white chocolate baskets for the berry salad. The first layer of chocolate is done, so I just need to let it harden some.
Look Here is one of my mousse artworks

Next up I think I will get a start on the Vegtables that need chopping.

I should proabaly just check the icream first though..... :P

3:07. Its much thicker!

3:31

So now I have sorted the strawberries (into piles for the berry salad and picked the ones best suited for the cream filled surprises - or whatever Chelsea called them...), cut up the cauliflower for the main main, and the carrots too, so all that's left to do is steam them.

We're currently going through all the plates/glasses/cutlery and setting everything up - luckily we've made extensive (seriously!) lists, detailing the plates/cutlery needed for every course.

Also the ice-cream is now in the freezer - where Chelsea can no longer watch it obsessively :-P We taste tested it - delicious, delicious, delicious :-)

3:48.

We've tasted the vegetable soup - it's so subtle and tasty - it's awesome :-) (well as awesome as a plain vege-broth soup can be for a couple of massive carnivores :-P

So far so good, but we're totally prepared for everything to go wrong in the next 2 and a bit hours :-S - why did we agree to this again?!?!?!

Watch this space for further updates :-)

9 courses of fun!

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:04:55 GMT

11:00

Well we finaly got to the kitchen, and while I was busily making the ice cream batter, Bec started on the shanks.

The house looked like somthing was on fire, we had a lovely misty fog on the cealing. I hope it clears soon, we dont want the whole house smelling of lamb shank....wait maybe we do :)

I'm just saying, I didn't actually burn anything - it's just the fat on the shanks makes everything a little hazy....yes that's it....

CHELSEA I hope the haze clears soon
BEC & CHELSEA SINGING "I can see clearly now the haze has gone"

12:12 The haze is mostly gone :) Bec is now on the vegetable soup, and I'm making white chocolate mousse.

12:21
CHELSEA: Bec where are those martini glasses you washed
BEC: On the drying rack. I would hand them to you but I'm chopping Celery.
CHELSEA TURNS
CHELSEA: bec I thought you were chopping celery. You appear to be eating it.
BEC: It broke. I couldn't put it in the soup. Don't judge me.
Chelsea *Silently Judges*
BEC: Celery?
BEC: *gives Chelsea celery*
BEC: Ha ha!! Now you are just as awful as I, worse even - your piece was whole!!!

12:44
My Seperb majestic white chocolate raspberry mousses are in the fridge. They are amazing! and Bec says they tase ok too!

Bec is making the Cherry soup!!

and is not so great with the whole recipe thing....oh dear...it'll be ok - of course it will....I hope.

All the recipes keep asking for different types of red wine, but we only have one bottle to cover everything - and that's exactly what I (Bec) am doing with it too - oh god!! I just added "a cup" of "dry red" to the cherry soup - which makes is smell kind of odd.... :-S remember people; SWEET cherry soup.

BEC: Oh wait, the smell, it's smelling sweeter now!!
CHELSEA: Excellent - I knew the internet would never steer us wrong

Washing up to date: x2 times.

So far so good - stand by for the next update :-)

dinner parites are fun

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:48:58 GMT

So as a uni student I do many productive and important things. Such as plan 9 course meals, with hilarious combinations of entrees mains and desserts. Look! Admire!

Yes... I do many pointless (yet fun) Things. :D

Editorial Anonymous

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:05:50 GMT

Kirsten Thomas of Pubrants linked me to a blog I haven't seen before called Editorial Anonymous. It looks really interesting, another insight into the publishing world.

:)

damn and blast

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 12:17:07 GMT

Dammmmmmmmmmit!
I can't go to Ben's 21st and its really annoying. GRRRR!
Maybe I should organize with Steve and Andrew to become a casual, then I will be able to take days off work. But the frustrating thing is a week ago at Lucy's party i said to Ben
"I don't know what you have planned, but I'm begging you to not make it Saturday during the day"
and he replied with "No, I'm going to do a Sunday"
And now it is a Saturday and I can't go, even though I really wanted to!!!

*sulks*

I know, incredibly emo entry!
:P

Dull Boy by Sarah Cross

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:07:48 GMT

Dull Boy arrived at work a week after it was released and I bought it straight away (thanks to Kynan’s birthday gift voucher!).
I couldn’t read it, until all of my assessment was done though! How terrible! But this weekend I had to go away to my grandparent’s farm, and my assessment was over. I needed something to distract me from the relatives so I grabbed Dull Boy from the top of my to-be-read pile of books, and off I went! My grandparents’ house was as irritating as expected, so some escapism was great! I wish I could have got a picture of me reading while grandma and granddad butchered one of their sheep, how cool would that have been? Our camera was out of batteries, so no such luck.

It was really good. I enjoyed it thoroughly! Avery was well developed and multi-dimensional. I was almost in tears on the plane in the first two chapters, when Avery was stranded at roast without his friends. The description of Avery’s flying was brilliant! It was so believable and emotive.
I loved Darla’s mood swings, how bad she was at stalking, and her terrible dealings with people. How she dashed in with her giant robot, and never thought there could be a swimming pool to short circuit it (really, a genius should make their giant robots water proof). I found her struggles to comfort Nicholas, and make him feel better were very true. I mean when a friend has depression what can you do? How can you explain to them how much it would kill you to lose them? The depression stops them understanding, and hearing. It’s a horrible struggle, and I thought it was portrayed perfectly.
I liked the changing opinions of Jacques, and how unsure I was at first of Cherchette and her motives. I mean, she seemed to want to help Avery! I also really liked how you could understand why Leilani was on Cherchette’s side, and how she got to be there.
Catherine was heartbreaking. Her poor brother! And her horrible parents! I loved how she only really made friends with Avery, and how slow it was. It seemed the right level of defensive to me.
I loved that Sophie’s power was sticking to things! What better useless power could you have? I mean really, I could totally get how Cherchette dismissed her! And yet she still went out and had fun saving people with the rest of them! Go her!
I do however have some (minor) annoyances. Cherchette’s outfit right at the start. Giant white high heels? Put me right off. Avery’s (ex)friends seem to completely ignore the fact he has had to change schools. I thought they would have a little more to say. Also I’m pretty sure Sarah Cross has seen Sky High. Avery has identical powers to Will, and the clique issues seemed similar to me. I could be wrong though.
Also, although I did like the element that they didn’t have one major enemy all the time, and that they struggle to find things to do, I also wished that there was a bigger Cherchette-is-evil thing earlier. I don’t quite know what I wanted, but I think I wanted a bigger plot threading through. More cohesiveness of bad guy’s maybe?

In summery this picture:

Go Buy Dull Boy!

debs_widget

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 23:00:53 GMT

A real uni student

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:24:12 GMT

I feel like a real uni student, I just spent two hours at the libray and actualy got somthing productive done! Woo! Go me! Now to go home and shower and then run to pubquiz.

Assesment, assesment.....

Wed, 27 May 2009 12:17:01 GMT

Girl Underground and Tales From Outer Suburbia both subvert and perpetuate commonly held ideologies about suburban lifestyle in different ways and both have a positive effect on children’s development and respect of diversity.

That’s right.

I totally can do this Uni stuff.....

*goes and curls up at the bottom of wardrobe with Thy*

Ow! She scratched me! Back to the essay it is.

The Demon's Lexicon

Wed, 20 May 2009 02:02:22 GMT

It arrived in the post yesterday. I came home to get my laptop charger, checked the mail, and found a brown post bag. Was it something I ordered on eBay or something much, much better?

Much, much, much better

I called Amanda, Rhiannon, and I texted Louisa. To share the awesome news (and also gloat a little) It is sighed. With my name! Also theirs! How awesome!

And then I was worried. I read once, on the blurb of The Book of Lost Books a quote that rang true with me

“The lost book… becomes infinitely more alluring simply because it can be perfect only in the imagination”

Or in my words:
The best book is one you haven't read yet. It has all the promise, and wonder you have built it up in your mind to be. And actually reading it can make it disappointing compared to what you imagined

I was worried that I had built the Demons Lexicon up too much. Should I read it? Would I be disappointed?

Having read it the answer is No!

Sarah created a story that had wonderful three dimensional characters, and I don’t think there was every the risk of her people being bland. She had the perfect mix of showing us and telling us how the characters felt. I was not disappointed. It was shorter than I had thought.

Nick was who Jace from Mortal Instruments thought he was, which was interesting.
I loved how Nick said (or didn’t) say things, and for half the book I was so frustrated with Alan. His actions are the judge! Don’t make him spell it out too you! You moron! He can’t!

I think Alan deserves a Gibbs slap.

I liked Alan quite a bit except for one thing. I hate Manipulative people, and he manipulated everyone. If it weren’t for that I think I would love him.
I’m rambling now, trying to say things without giving too much away.

I think I expected more humor. Every quip of Jamie’s was great! It would have ruined the mood of the book to have masses of humor, but humor is one of the things I love about SRB, and so I still would have liked a bit more.

Perhaps her next series will just be a hilarious romp!

but I if it’s just like The Demons Lexicon I will love it anyway.

Because I did love the Demons Lexicon

In June you should all go out and buy it!

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Sun, 17 May 2009 22:15:08 GMT

Unwind
Neal Shusterman
As three teens from different walks of life become fugitives from the government who is determined to harvest them for body parts. I really like the different circumstances behind the three kid’s reasons for flight. Connor’s parents registered him to be unwound because he hasn’t done well at school and keeps getting into fights, the most common reason for kids being unwound. Risa has grown up in a state operated house her whole life, and now at the age of 16 they don’t think her chosen career of concert pianist is good enough. Lev knew he would be an unwind his whole life. His parents conceived him to be a donation to the greater good, a religious donation; he has spent his life looking forward to it.
I also really like the society’s view of unwinding. It’s not killing the unwanted children, as every part of them is used and kept alive; they are just moving on to be alive in another form. I also liked that the reason why unwinding was started because of a civil war in the US, between pro-life and pro-choice camps. They were both so absolute in their beliefs that they wouldn;t compromise, until unwinding begun. Unwanted children are not killed, (to satisfy pro-lifers) but they also don’t exist to be a burden on their parents (to satisfy the pro-choicers). There a few other interesting laws in this country. If you don’t want a child, once you give birth you can leave it on a door step, a tradition called storking. The new family legally have to keep the child, unless they catch the person leaving the baby.
I really enjoyed it; you don’t find many young adult sci-fis that are really well imagined.and carried through.

My 21st

Sun, 17 May 2009 04:46:42 GMT

SO I turned 21 about a month ago, and I had a party, with lots of family and friends. It was in the courtyard of the church (because I felt weired having my party in the main church, it’s so big it would dwarf us. Unfortunately it was raining, but the court yard is (mostly) covered so no one got (too) wet.
We had purple and red helium balloons, in bunches around the edge, and tables with red table cloths, and purple table runners. I had wrangled some damaged books set to be chucked from work, and Dad drilled holes in them so they were candle holders.

It was a literary trivia night, and I asked everyone to come dressed as book characters.
I was Cherry Ames, a Nurse who solves crimes. The books were written around WWII (in fact Cherry was an army nurse for a while) Here is me

This is Erin with her awesome costume as a timewyrm, something from a doctor who book.

This is Natasha, my step-mother as Mary Poppins, her mother Leslie as Miss Marple, and Natasha’s niece Abby as Alice in Wonderland. (family ties are so confusing, is she my step-cousin or my stepmother’s niece?)

This one had my grandmother on dads side who is Margret Fulton (she had a rolling pin and everything) Rhys, Abby’s brother as Darth Vader (I didn’t have the heart to say that Darth Vader was in a film before he was in a book) Uncle Jack as Huck Finn, and others in the background.

My sister (who always look better than me damn her) is Snow White, and me laying down the rules.

Kynan as Alice in Wonderland (he’s such a pretty girl isn’t he?) Lara as the Mad Hatter and Bec as Keladry of Mindelan.

Can you spot Peter Pan, and Where is Jess… I mean Wally?

Look at Zeus and the Loggods

And here is Meaghan as Max from Where The Wild Things Are

Me with GiGI and Camille

Timmy Rhiannon and I

Me and my mother who was (?) the French lieutenant’s wife

And there was a bunch more of awesome costumes. It was great fun!

squee

Fri, 08 May 2009 07:59:47 GMT

So I enterd a compation to win a sighned copy of The Demons Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brenan AKA sarahtales, and i completely didn't expect to win, because posting to auratlia take extra effort than say, posting to England, but look! LOOK! I won!
Without lying too!
whoda thunk it?
I'm very excited, and the winner was picked by the lady herself *beams*

http://www.culch.ie/2009/05/07/winner-of-the-demons-lexicon/

Sun, 03 May 2009 05:48:08 GMT

some random quiz i found, when i was putting off doing my essay

Your result for The Harry Potter Wand Test...

9", Willow, Phoenix

A willow wand signifies that you care deeply about emotions, art, and intuition, and that you have a particular knack for charms. The phoenix tail feather as your core means that you have the capability to be an extremely powerful wizard or witch and that you will defend those you love at all costs.

Take The Harry Potter Wand Test at HelloQuizzy

Alexander of Tirragen

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 05:21:01 GMT

I have been rereading the Song of the Lioness Quartet again recently, and I have been thinking. It was the first Tammy Pierce I ever read (In the Hands of the Goddess on my way home from Newcastle after visiting my relatives, a five hour drive) and as soon as we got back to Canberra I demanded mum should take me to the library At Once.
(Coral-“But Chelsea, its past 5:30, It will be Closed” Chelsea-“Mum its open till 8 on Thursdays! We have half an hour! Go!” Coral-“You memorised the libraries opening hours? …..What did I do wrong?”)
I proceeded to devour all the Tamora Pierce in the library, bought them all, and have read them all several times since.
With all the thinking I have been doing lately on the nature of what makes a good story, good character development, styles of writing and other such things (thanks to sarahtales and uni) my rereading of Alana has thrown up something I want to discuss.

Alex.

According to the Tamora Pierce Wiki Alex is
Page at the Palace when Alanna first arrives there. Becomes Duke Roger's squire. Excellent fencer. Is magicked into trying to kill Alanna whilst she is a squire. As a knight, plots against Jonathan with Claw and Delia of Eldorne to put Roger of Conte on the throne. Is killed by Alanna during Jonathan's coronation. Is described as being as sleek as a cat.

That’s about all I can find online, besides a fan fiction called the VSD of Alexander of Tirragen (not as funny as it could have been).

Alex starts off as Alan’s friend. He helps with maths, and laughs at his jokes. He is involved in the meeting about Ralon of Malven, in defence of Alan. To all appearances he is a good friend, and they get on well. Then Duke Roger takes him as a squire, and Alana begins to distrust him. Alana is the only person who dislikes Roger, and everyone else still treats him exactly the same. The only real negative reaction Alana has is no to introduce him to George, but that’s it.
Why does Alex begin to grow away from them? Obviously it is Rogers influence, but was it that Roger took a nice boy and tuned him evil, or did Roger see something in Alex that appealed to him? Perhaps in the interviews he had with all the pages.
Ali Mukhtab comments that he is “the dark secretive one” so clearly he is growing away from the others.

At the beginning of In the Hands of the Goddess we don’t hear much about Alex beyond a cursory introduction to Faithful Alana’s new cat. Alana Comments he is becoming more distant, even though his days of being distracted and busy as Roger’s squire are over, as he is now a knight, but he hasn’t outwardly changed much since the first books. Roger asks Alex to fetch a package for him
"I hate to ask this, but a truly important package has arrived for me at Port Caynn. You are the only one other than myself I trust to go. Will you?”.

So clearly Roger and Alex are still on close terms. This is understandable, Kel and Raoul stay close after she is knighted, and I know I forged enough of connection with my teachers to stay in close contact after only a year let alone living with a teacher for two to four years. Alex still seems close to John, Alana and the others all the same. Alana says about their relationship “They had been friendly rivals for years—each trying to be better at fencing, archery and the other fighting skills than the other”

When Alana is asked to fight the knight from Tusaine she sees Alex have an “eager” look on his face. So Alex is now eager to see Alana fight a much more experienced knight. Is it because he knows how skilled she is, and is confident in her ability to humiliate the Tusaine?
Before our suspicions can spiral out of control we are consoled as to Alex’s intentions. When Duke Roger asks Alex what he thinks the outcome of the duel will be Alex responds "I think Dain of Melor is in for a large surprise… Alan's as good as I am. Someday he may be better" So clearly Alana was correct, their rivalry is not bitter, it’s friendly.
However at the beginning of this conversation a “smile crossed Alex's dark, secret face”. While we are shown they are still friendly, the reader is still reminded that something is not quite right with Alex. He is not to be trusted.

After the Duel, which Alan wins easily, Roger does some thinking, plotting out his plans to take the throne.

Tonight Alan had revealed another important quality he could bring to Jonathan's service: he had shown he was a great swordsman, one who could fight as well…with his left hand as with his right. Roger swore again and gulped down another glass of wine. Why had Alex never told him? Jealousy? A refusal to believe a boy who was still a squire could be as good as he was? The Duke scowled, fingering his short beard. He would have to be more careful now than ever; Alan, he felt, suspected him, and Alan must never get proof to back up his suspicions. Of course, there were ways and ways to handle that aspect of things. Some steps might be taken soon.
Roger is expecting Alex to tell him everything about Alan, and report on his skills. Once again, I want to know what is happening in Alex’s head! Does Alex know of Roger plans? Has Roger told him, and read him in, or are there just vague suspensions? Does he just think that his old knight master wants to keep his finger on the pulse?

Then he all but disappears from the story, his only mention being that he is one of the few squires or knights not interested in Delilah of Eldorne. In fact only he, his squire and Alan are uninterested. Is it because he knows Delilah is a servant of Duke Roger? Or) is he himself not interested in women, the same way Alan isn’t interested in women?

He and Alanna had been talking about what it was like to be good …until it was only natural to find one of the indoor fencing courts and see which of them was better
How natural, how innocent. Alana hasn’t been very suspicious of Alex, why should she suspect her friend? But then he tries to kill her. He attacks brutally, and almost does kill her. Now I don’t believe that (as the wiki claimed) he was under an enchantment. He was acting strangely about her last duel, and it seems almost planned on his part, not even Faithful was there. That makes me most certain he had planned it. Why not suggest it when Faithful was there? Faithful distrusts Roger, and Roger probably has guessed that Faithful isn’t natural. I seriously think that this is when we are shown that Alex is a full supporter of Rogers Plans. Alex is also present when Alana falls through the salted ice and almost dies, indeed it was he who dared her. Coincidence? I think not!

But that is the last time we hear about Alex. The LAST TIME until book four. In book four Alex is secretive, hiding and clearly embroiled in any plots to depose John from the throne, and he alone of Rogers’s followers knows of Rogers’s true plan. He is willing for Roger to destroy the kingdom, as long as he has the chance to beat Alana at fencing.
Kel’s equivalent enemy is Joren, and he is much clearer to understand. He is her enemy from the beginning, and his motives are clear, he has been raised very traditionally, and thinks that women as warriors are unnatural. He is inflexible, cruel and a bully and is unable to survive the chamber of the Ordeal. He is cast in a similar role to Alex, a petty school yard enemy who causes distractions, but his motives are much more transparent. He never likes Kel, so there is no need for his opinion to change. Alex however starts off as Alana and John’s friend.

So Tammy! Tell me about Alex! What makes him go from friend and ally to evil, petty, crazy enemy? What does Duke Roger say to lure him over to the dark side? To make him hate Alana so much? Why does he want John taken from succession? He certainly doesn’t seem to be power hungry. What makes him value killing Alana over his own life? It can’t be jealousy over being John’s squire, He can’t want to be John’s squire, he becomes a knight the same time. So tell me why! What is his motivation?

Tell me what you think! Let me know if their are charicters like this in your favorite books!

A Bush Fairytale

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:12:23 GMT

I was looking at a compation on http://cyn2write.livejournal.com/132554.html to win a ARC of a book. The book looks realy cool, its a fairy tale style thing, and i decided to enter (thats what the promotional link in my previous post is). One of the ways you can enter, is by writing a fairytale starring your self, so i stared, Saying to myself You can so do somthing quick, and easy, and awesome.

Two hours later, this is the intorduction. It still needs work, and i haven't finished my adventures yet, but what do you think? The cool thing is that (except the talking animals, and granting wishes thing) the story is mostly true. My dad found a Joey, caught in barbed wire, and then he swapped it with the vet for a wombat. When the wombat was older, they gave it too a woman who had a propety full of tame(ish) wombats. And then they had ME! :D So here is part one

A Bush Fairy Tale- The Child of Fire, and the Child of Plants, and how They came to be Conceived

Once upon a time, a man and a woman lived in a far away land called Australia. They had been married for many years, and had prayed for children, but nothing would work. After 7 years they moved out into the wild bush, and started a place of pilgrimage. They worked together building a center with wood they found themselves, and with their own hands. And to show his devotion to god the man stopped cutting his hair. It grew long and curly, until it was a mane.

One day the man was walking along a street returning home after a hard day’s work. He was tired, and the road was hot and dusty so he almost missed it when he found a young kangaroo trapped in a barbed wire fence by the road. It was badly hurt but it spoke to him.

“Good sir, if you rescue me, you and your wife shall have one wish.” The young joey said (for that is the name of baby kangaroos).

The man was shocked, to hear the talking animal. He was worried, and thought it may be a trick, tempting him. The man was a good man though, and rather than let an animal die, he de tangled the joey from the wire. It was badly bleeding, so he walked to the local healer woman. The wise woman looked at the baby kangaroo, and said

“I can heal him, but you must leave him here.”

The man agreed, but as he was leaving he heard a voice.

“Please sir, can you raise me?”

The man looked around and saw a small pink bundle by the fire.

“What is that?” he asked the wise woman

“That is an orphaned wombat, her mother was killed, and she needs parents to raise him.” She replied.

The man looked at the bundle, and looked at the joey, and as he was a good man, wish or no wish, he knew he must raise the wombat. And perhaps it would fill the place of a child in their lives.

“I will take her, and raise her. My wife and I will take good care of her.” He offered.

The wise woman smiled, because she knew much of bush magic, and instructed the man how to nurture the new bundle. He and his wife named the child Winnie and cared diligently for the baby, and soon it grew. They loved Winnie, but eventually she grew up. She told her parents,

“Today I must set out to seek my fortune, in the world of my people”

Her mother wailed, and her father wept, but they packed food and water for the young creature, and away she went to find her place in the world.

The man and the woman cleaned their house and inconsolable they sat down to their evening meal outside. Both were so upset, that they couldn’t face the food, and the woman said

“How I wish we had a child of our own to care for.”

The man agreed.

“I wish to have a child of our own, who is as wild as a bushfire, with hair like the earth.”

No sooner had they agreed, than the man glanced up to see a huge buck kangaroo watching them.

“Sir. You rescued me, when I was tangled in wire. You saved me when I asked, and now you and your wife share a wish, so I will grant it as I promised.” The mighty Kangaroo said.

The woman was shocked, for the man had not told her of his bargain, but she was happy, for at that moment she felt a movement in her belly, the movement of a baby. She exclaimed, and they were both so overcome with joy that they didn’t notice the kangaroo leave.

Six months later the baby was born, on a chilly night, warning of the coming winter, the second Thursday after Easter, on the 14th of April.
The baby was small, and wrinkled with dark earth hair, and eyes like the ground after a fire, dark and warm, the mother and father wept for joy, and named her Chelsea.

The girl grew, and gave her parents much joy, but the soon they wished for another child, one to play with Chelsea, and be company her own age. One night, after her third birthday and she had been put to bed, they stood in the warm night air, watching the stars and the bush.

“I wish we could have another child. This one could have hair like the grass in summer, light brown. And eyes like the gum tree bark, greeny grey.” The mother said

“That sounds beautiful, and I wish for it too. But we have our daughter, who fills me with joy already.” The man said

Then they looked up, and saw a large wombat standing just outside the light cast by their house.

“You raised me, when I was young. And I never promised you anything but you did it anyway. So I will give you another child.”

The mother and father wept, for not only did they have another child to look forward to, they had seen their beloved Winnie was safe and well.
The next child born was a delicate and lovely girl exactly as the mother had envisioned. They named her Teneal, and she and Chelsea grew to love each other.

The mother grew discontented at times, and wished for more wishes, and to live in the city with society. The man grew tired and angry, feeling he was unappreciated for his hard work, and they quarreled. Eventually the man and the woman decided to part ways and they moved. The man began to build a house of recycled timber and the mother bought a pretty modern house.

The girls shared their time between the mother and father, but as all children do, eventually they decided to set off to seek their fortune. The eldest girl asked for a coat, to keep her warm, as she would be travelling far and wide and the fire in her heart didn’t always warm her. The father fashioned one out of fire and love, and it was a bright red coat that she wore with pride.

The younger girl asked for a horse, so she would be able to travel fast, and in style. The mother took some of the wind, and some of the river, and created fine steed that was fast and strong. The girls set out, and they decided one should go east, and one should go west, so they could have their own adventures.

I'm not Crazy. I Swear.

Fairy Lust

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:52:45 GMT

a poorly capatalised mem

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 09:08:49 GMT

On a blank sheet of paper, WRITE NUMBERS 1 through 11 in a COLUMN on the LEFT.
BESIDE the NUMBERS 1& 2, WRITE DOWN ANY two NUMBERS YOU WANT.

If I have ever seen a more sensible way to determine my true feelings, I can’t remember it. What could work better than a random internet quiz?

BESIDE the NUMBERS 3& 7, WRITE DOWN THE NAMES OF TWO MEMBERS
OF THE OPPOSITE SEX.

WRITE ANYONES NAME (like FRIENDS or FAMILY. ..) next to 4, 5, & 6 .

WRITE down FOUR SONG TITLES in 8, 9, 10, & 11

HERE IS THE KEY TO THE GAME

The random Capslocking in this is ludicrous, and I can’t get rid of it, as Word 2007 doesn’t have change case

THE PERSON IN SPACE 3 IS THE ONE YOU LOVE
Ben… Maybe it means in a plutonic way…

THE PERSON YOU LIKE but your relationship CANNOT WORK is in
SPACE 7
Tim… our relationship wouldn’t work probably because he is 15 and gay…. I’m just saying they might be contributing factors!

YOU CARE MOST about the PERSON you put in SPACE 4
Erin. Well Erin, what can I say? The quiz showed my true feelings, I love you more than life itself. :P

THE PERSON YOU NAME IN NUMBER 5 IS THE ONE WHO
KNOWS YOU VERY WELL.
Teneal, Well she has lived with me for 17 years. You would hope she picked somthing up.

THE PERSON YOU NAMED IN 6 IS YOUR LUCKY STAR
Meaghan Are you happy to be my lucky star Meg?

THE SONG IN 8 IS THE SONG THAT MATCHES WITH THE PERSON IN NUMBER 3
Ben, You shook me all night long by ACDC. Well if it thinks I love him in a non plutonic way I guess that makes sense…. But still…not quite the song I would associate with Ben… No Offence Ben.

THE TITLE IN 9 IS THE SONG FOR THE PERSON IN 7
Tim- This songs got no title by Elton John. So what? Tim has no title? Or he sings a song with no title? I’m confused!

THE 10 TH SPACE IS THE SONG THAT TELLS YOU MOST ABOUT YOUR MIND
Good old fashioned lover boy by Queen. My mind is a good old fashioned lover boy? WTF?

AND 11 IS THE SONG TELLING HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT LIFE
Piano man, by Billy Joel. Yes, I feel piano man about life!

NUMBER 1 IS YOUR LUCKY NUMBER
1

IT IS STRANGE HOW ITSEEMS TO WORK.

So Strange i can Hardly Contain it.... *cough*

Juggling while educated

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:57:15 GMT

Today I had one of the best lectures I have ever been to. It was an hour and a half, and I didn’t care. Normally I get bored in one hour lectures, but I was disappointed when this one ended. The lecture was inspiring, and passionate. He really got into the subject matter and you could tell he wanted to make us good teachers.
So he gave a demonstration of teaching. He got three volunteers, and took them up to the front of the theater. We weren’t sure what to he was going to do, and I was expecting some sort of role play. It was a role play in a way, but better. He chucked them all a beanbag, and proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes teaching them to juggle. He went from one bag to two, and then up to three, until the volunteers were juggling.
Not well, but they were juggling.
It was the cleverest way to teach teaching I have seen so far, and I think I’m really going to enjoy this unit. The material it basic stuff, that’s all fascinating (to me) and it’s amazing what a difference a good teacher can really be.
It didn’t hurt that he was good looking either :P
In other news Kath gave me the manuscript for City of Bones, and I’m getting it bound tomorrow. How Exciting!

Reps

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 09:13:10 GMT

So as you all probably know, I work in a bookshop! How exciting!
At a bookshop we have these magical people called reps (representatives) who work for all the publishing houses. Every so often (once a month for big publishers like Random, Allen & Unwin and Pearson, less for smaller ones like Thames, Wiley etc) The reps come with a list of their forthcoming titles things they want to convince our bosses to buy. They work really hard at this as they are paid on commission. No sales= no money. They get to know the staff, and then try to get us excited about a book, so we will make our bosses buy them (also they are mostly nice people who like talking about books).
One way of making staff in a bookstore excited about a book is *drum roll * giving them free books.
So reps often give us Advance Reading Copies (ARC), and we love them for it. We can review them, talk them up to customers, and otherwise make our bosses buy more books (thus increasing the reps commissions!) Jim (the random rep) gave me a reading copy for Jackie Daydream way back, and I also have been given the reading copy for the new Skullduggery Pleasant.
Kath (who works out the back at work) was sent the manuscript for City Of Glass by Cassandra Claire, and I glared and grumbled at her for days.
I recommended Cassandra Claire to her, and I have been reading it from the beginning, and Kath got it first! It’s not fair. I should have got it! Its my right!
*Trails off into grumbling*
But it’s OK because Kath is giving me City Of Glass tomorrow, and all will be well in the world again!
Now I have to ambush the Simon & Schuster rep Graham, and trick him into giving me an ARC of Demons Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brenan. If I don’t win the completion on Marmalade Fish that is….

Another dream

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:44:55 GMT

I went out clubbing with Brendan and Tahlesin, and when we got back they were arguing about everything, and they were quite tipsy. We were all sleeping at Tahlesin’s house, so we changed into sleep clothes and went to sleep. I had church the next morning, and I had set an alarm on my phone, but I woke up and it was the time church starts. So I panicked and got ready really, really quickly. In the dream I was moving incredibly slowly and this seemed to take forever, however when I checked my watch it was only ten minutes later. So I ran out of the house and I was at Jamison center, and there was mum, Teneal, grandma and granddad sitting around a table eating a roast chicken. Mum called out to me that I had to
“Come be polite to your grandparents”
So I sat down, and we were eating the chicken, and I got a wing. When Teneal and I are with granddad, he doesn’t talk a lot, so we ask him questions like”what’s your favorite colour? “ or “what’s your favorite animal?” Silly pointless questions to make him talk. So while eating this chicken I asked granddad
“What’s your favorite meat?” Granddad was pulling apart a bone that looked to be the size of a leg of lamb bone, but apparently it was the drumstick.
“Chicken” he replied. I was surprised, but explained to him that Teneal mum and I have chicken almost every day so we are sick of it. Then granddad started telling me about a problem with red meat. He showed me the bone he was eating and pulled a string off the surface.
“That’s a tendon, and is the best eating bit. All animals have it, but with everything but chicken it gets burnt off in the cooking process.”
I nodded and looked sympathetic, but I asked
“I have had lamb with that, and beef. Why would it happen sometimes and not others?”
“Because for it to stay strong and not burn off it need a type of parasite living in the animal. And we don’t have that in Victoria.”
I thought that he and grandma just were making up silly sudo-science as an excuse for the fact they can’t cook very well.
Then I realized I still had to go to church and I looked at my watch. It was now half an hour since church had started, and I was panicking, but mum wouldn’t drive me. She kept making excuses until it was an hour and a half later and there was no way I could go to church. I was very annoyed.
I went inside to buy something at the bakery, and I saw Kay Distel. She is a woman who “helped” Teneal and me with our dyslexia and we don’t like her at all. In the dream she was riding a hands free bike. I went back outside and sat down in a huff at mum, so she said she would drive us home, but she drove me to Kay Distel's house (a place that is in a lot of my dreams). She has video cameras over all of it, except the back yard so you have to sneak around carefully if you want to avoid her. I was sitting in a green area under lots of trees with Charlie, and it became night. There was a lot of noise, and we realized there was a white tiger that had been stolen from the zoo leaving her chicken coup, so she must have stolen it. Charlie barked a warning to all the other dogs around, and they and all the cats herded it back to me, so that I could catch it and return it to the zoo.

coriander

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:38:15 GMT

Coriander is my favorite herb. Its delicious, i love the smell, and one of my favorite foods is tomato coriander and lemon chopped up together.
Its delicous. but most people don't apricieate it. Whenever i try to cook something for my dinners and add coriander people protest. why don't they apreciate it? its awesome! What do you think?

Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:25:50 GMT

I can't tell where the drit begins, and the tan ends. my hair hasn't been washed in 9 day (however it HAS been full imssered in water everyday)my feet have soles so stong i can walk on spikey painful gravel easily. I have read 6 book in a week.

yes i have been camping since Christmas.

And while it was awesome, and the best week of my year, i am also glad to be back.

I am going to unpack, and bathe.

CRAP Teneal left the shampoo conditioner and soap at dads house.

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 11:43:31 GMT