| “You can turn off the sun, but I'm still gonna shine.” |
[18 Oct 2009|12:38am] |
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But if the world could remain within a frame like a painting on a wall
Then I think we would see the beauty.
Then we would stand staring in awe at our still lives posed like a bowl of oranges
--Bright Eyes, 'Bowl of Oranges'
Okie, so I am long overdue for an update. So overdue that my overdue fees would be through the roof. I should be selling individual tea leaves for meagre amounts of money to pay for it. I should be selling my organs, giving head massages, signing up for every type of paid medical research in existence, even if they don't even apply to me. I should be sitting on the streets with a penny whistle and a plastic cup. I'm so overdue from LJ I should be evicted and cast out like a leper.
Fortunately, I'm not. So I'll just update, shall I?
It's the end of week 3 at Bristol. And so far? I love it.
( Dew, cheese and the unfortunate fate of Molly )
Theres a swine flu victim on my floor. One of the showers has rubbish pressure. My tutor has an annoying habit of setting essays due on the same day as at least 3 other pieces of work.
But I'm happy, I think.
x
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| Every place I go I think of you, every song I sing I sing for you |
[24 Aug 2009|01:16pm] |
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 lazy |
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So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
cause I'm leavin on a jet plane
Dont know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go
--John Denver, 'Leaving On a Jet Plane'
Honey, I'm home.
I'm still pining for NZ, even though I left weeks ago. I miss my friends, and my Miss Saigon and NGHS family. It’s disappointingly grey as ever, and I’ve come back to an extremely messy room (I swear it’s messier than how I left it), a distinct lack of nice cereal and a huge pile of BookMooch books that need to be sent. But I'm still excited to be back and see everyone. Yay :)
The main lesson that I’ve learned over these past few months, is that I’m a nervous flyer. It’s nothing to do with the actual flight as such, because I kind of like that part. But it’s the build up before it. I worry that my bags will be overweight. I worry that they’ll be incorrectly marked and will end up in Sweden or something. I worry that I’ll lose my passport. I worry that when I’m in transit, my bags will stay there and not travel to the next place. If there were a worrying competition, I could win hands down.
So my worry for the day was getting to LAX. I’d booked a shuttle that was meant to pick me up at 12.45. So I waited in the lobby for 15 minutes, freaking out that I’d written the time wrong and missed it already. I do this *all the time* seriously, anything to do with time I can convince myself that I’ve gotten it wrong. So I called them, and turns out the shuttle broke down and they hadn’t thought to send another one. So finally got on one 45 mins late. Fun times. Not.
On leaving NZ, I went to Melbourne for a week to meet ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ravenna_ for the first time in non-virtual form, after knowing each other online for 6 years. And she is just as wonderful and beautiful in real life as I imagined ;)
( Photographic evidence that we did actually meet... )
Disneyland was awesome. We were there for 5 days, which would normally be complete overkill, but because of my younger cousins we’d leave around noon so they could go sleep, and I would go back in the evening with one of my cousins and my uncle and go on all the ones that were hugely busy during the day. We managed to go on the Indiana Jones ride (possibly the most popular one) about 7 times, yay! But I have a whole new appreciation for Disneyland, the last time I was there was 10 years ago, and even though I loved it then, I enjoyed it even more this time around. I'm usually fairly cynical about the whole Disney thing, but it really is kind of magical. I got a picture with Alice and the Queen of Hearts, but didn’t manage to get one with any princesses. You have to queue for HOURS to get in to this bit, where they have 3 at random, which I couldn’t be bothered to do, since I couldn’t care less about some of them. But I was a bit bummed about not getting to see Belle and Mulan :( Ahh well. Time for a Disney film marathon.
( Off with her head! )
x
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| This is the hour... |
[17 Jul 2009|01:19am] |
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The Cranberries - Zombie |
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And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
--Wicked, 'Defying Gravity'
Well. I'm getting so slack on my entries. The thing is, when I write more in my (non-virtual) diary, my LJ posts become more and more nonexistent. I started this post after opening night. Then wrote some more when we were halfway through.
Now we finished 2 weeks ago, and I still haven't finished posting.
FAIL.
But seriously, the show was amazing. We had some awesome standing ovations and some pretty crazy mishaps. Eee!
It all began with a post it. It was from a student at the school who had seen me around, and left at the hostel reception asking if I wanted to audition and her phone number. I hadn’t even met the girl! But she picked me up and took me to the theatre. 6 months later, here we are.
It’s been an awesome experience. While the other gappies have been great, we’re just a group of people who have been lumped together geographically, and we don’t really have anything in common. Whereas people from the show, we share a love for the show, a lack of a life outside of rehearsal, we whinge about our director. We see each other so much we’ve passed our lurgies around the whole cast until everyone has a cold one after the other. We cook each other dinner when we have rehearsal, when we don’t we go out. We stock our dressing rooms with lollies and cough syrup. We’ve all seen each other with very few pieces of clothing on. We've seen each other pretty much every day for the last 6 months. Miss it muchly.
( Bar girl photos as promised! )
(More on facebook)
On a completely unrelated note, I just saw Harry Potter 6. ZOMG.
xx
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| Rotorua, Queens Birthday Weekend and really short shorts... |
[03 Jun 2009|03:21pm] |
I'm okay
if you get me at a good angle
and you're okay
in the sort of light
and we don't look
like pages from a magazine
but that's all right
that's all right
--Ani DiFranco, 'Imperfectly'
The time has flown by. I can't believe its been 4 months already since I arrived in NZ. Hard to believe I only have about 8 weeks left here.
Miss Saigon is going awesomely. 2 and a half weeks till opening night! We've been rehearsing almost every day now, in costume. Jeez it is so so cold, especially in my bargirl costume! This weekend was the first time we'd been in costume in front of the rest of the cast/crew/backstage singers, and it was awkward as. Everyone (non-bargirl) was really nice about it, but after the scene the director made each of us stand up in front of everyone while she pointed out what was wrong with us/our costumes. Yeesh.
( Miss Saigon photos )
So now my life is basically empty of all exciting news except for the show. Queen's Birthday weekend, I went down to Palmerston North to go to a farewell BBQ hosted by our project coordinator. SO much fun, 30 gappies taking over her house with Singstar, sleeping bags and way too much drink. Yet I had to come back to Napier early Sunday morning to go to a 10 1/2 rehearsal. Fun. Yet it did also mean I had to stay in an empty hostel for a night, and it freaks me out. This place is meant for about 200 students. This weekend it was just me and the cat. And the building creaks like crazy and I'm honestly convinced someone is in here. Eep!
Anyway, a couple of pics from Rotorua... ( Mud, luges and 1,2,3...pose! )
xx
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| Fuck you Fox and too much exposed skin.... |
[20 May 2009|10:21pm] |
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 cold |
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I remember it well
The first time that I saw
Your head around the door
'Cause mine stopped working
--Damien Rice 'I Remember'
Lets just begin this entry with a loud FUCK YOU FOX for axing one of the best TV shows I've ever watched. RIP Terminator: SCC. You now join the ranks of the fallen shows that were cruelly brought down by the hands of these morons. Dark Angel. Firefly. Futurama. Now TSCC. Bugger.
On a brighter note, oh my god Miss Saigon is getting awesome. I got some of my costumes fitted yesterday and...! My bargirl/stripper/prostitute outfit consists of a tiny denim miniskirt and a red bra. Thats it o_O And I can count myself lucky, because I saw a leopard print bikini in there too. At least I get to cover a bit. Jeez! My wedding scene dress is much nicer (well, it actually covers my body for a start...) and its a light green qipao that goes way down to my feet, but thats partially because I'm just too short. Anyway. Wow!
We've got 29 days to go, and it sounds and looks so awesome. Will take some photos at some point. Look here
Eep!
xx
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| Napier shootings |
[08 May 2009|02:32pm] |
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So things are pretty chaotic here at the moment. I doubt it's made the news in other countries, but 3 police officers and 1 passerby were shot (1 police officer killed) yesterday in Napier, about 10 mins from the school. It's still ongoing, the gunman is in a house nearby with explosives and all sorts of weapons, surrounded by police and the roads are cordoned off. The dead police officer is still outside the house, because they can't retrieve the body.
So yesterday the school went into complete lockdown mode. All day students in the hall, all hostel girls back in the hostel, locked in the dining room and rec room. No one was allowed to move between buildings or to go near windows. Students were only able to retrieve their phones etc when escorted by teachers. No one gets in the school, no one gets out.
Which became a slight issue for me, as I was on a trip at EIT (uni in Hawkes Bay) with year 12s. I was roped into going with them for a Maori Careers hui. What they didn't tell me was that I would be the only member of staff going with them, and that they were possibly the bitchiest group of year 12s in existence. Well...I should have figured it out really, when the staff keep repeating "They're a nice group of girls really..." about 16 times.
Anyway, after the event we had a little problem of Can We Get Back To The School Without Being Shot. Sent the girls home, as they could just the bus stright home. I on the other hand, live at school and couldn't actually get in. So I was basically stranded at EIT for a while, until we got the all clear. Finally managed to get home with a lift from one of the staff at EIT who was running the hui, only to join the hostel girls in lockdown. Fortunately, it's much better being locked in the hostel than in the school, and basically meants that everyone grabs their duvets and goes to the rec room to watch Mamma Mia/Twilight, play hangman and knit.
So today, things are almost back to normal. The school was still open today, though only half the pupils showed up. The hostel is still under semi-lockdown mode, and people are just generally kind of tense. I know this kind of thing happens in London all the time, but Napier is so small and quiet and safe, that its just kind of shocked everyone. Everyone knows the three officers that were shot, one of them is the father of one of the students at NGHS, and last years head girl.
Hopefully all this will be over soon.
x
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[06 Apr 2009|10:19pm] |
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After surfing throung the huge numbers of April Fools articles I think that this one wins hands down. Fiction World Rocked as Woman Claims No Sexual Attraction to Neil Gaiman. Definitely April Fools, it's not actually possible to not be sexually attracted to Neil. Tried. Failed.
I had the freakiest dream last night. I was being stalked by a clown, who kept trying to kill me. Like really really trying to kill me. He chased my up onto the roof of a building, and I fell and tryied to pretend I was dead. Didn't work, because there wasn't enough blood (!). Anyway, I keep remembering staring into this oval, white face of the clown and screaming and running away. So later on, I'm trying to tell my uncle about this clown so he can help protect me, and while I'm talking to him I realised that he had this oval, white face, and he was actually the clown. I have never been so scared in my life! Jesus, I have no idea how people can actually find clowns funny and not terrifying...
This weekend we stole a car. NZ is bringing out my criminal side. I can almost see why people do it, god it was pretty exciting! It was Harry's birthday, so we got up at 6am, stole his car and drove it all the way up to Te Mata Peak, filling it with balloon and banners and scribbling all over the windows in pen. We were all waiting outside his house in the car, waiting for him to notice that it was gone, and finally got a text saying "Where the FUCK is my car?!?!". Mwahahahaaaa!!! Anyway we led him on a treasure hunt around Hastings to get it back. Man, it was so much fun!
So this week I should be going fishing for the first time ever! I'm way excited. This random guy I met at a barbeque (who looks and acts exactly like Dylan Moran! And he has hair like Julian Rhind-Tutt (see 'fraise-blonde' in icon)!) invited me on a spontaneous trip on Sunday, but I was busy bargirl-ing at Miss Saigon to go. So he's going to skive off work and take me this week. Eep! I'm such a city girl, and never been out to do all these cool outdoorsy things, so I'm very very excited!
Only thing is, his name is Charles. I didn't know people named Charles actually existed. How weird is that? Not that it affects my opinion of him, he's definitely the most awesome person I've met in NZ so far. But Charles? He so doesn't fit my image of someone called Charles, he came to pick me up in a ute (utility truck thingy) with a straw hat and a pack of gummy bears on the seat. Charles? Really?
So it's almost the holidays now. We're off to the South island this weekend, and I'm so incredibly excited. But it's gone so so fast, I can't believe I'm almost halfway through my Kiwi time :(
xx
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| Brothels and chainsaw wielding maniacs... |
[14 Mar 2009|02:49pm] |
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Kelly Clarkson - Breakaway |
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Hey loves, it's been a while.
So when I said that I have a fully functional and awesome internet connection, that doesn't actually mean that I'll get time to go on it. But anyway.
Some strange things have happened since I last updated. I now dance in a brothel. My picture was in the newspaper. I've turned into a farmer. I was chased by a chainsaw wielding maniac. NZ life goes on...
I'm now in the Napier production of Miss Saigon. I know right? Try to suspend your disbelief for a couple of seconds. Me. The girl who freaks out when she has one foot on stage. The girl who played piano to a class of year 9s a couple of weeks ago and shook like a leaf. What on eath is she doing singing and dancing in a frakking theatre?
Well, I don't know. But its been pretty awesome. I'm now a bargirl in a brothel, and I spend my evenings dancing with a group of guys who are old enough to be my father. One of them is a drama teacher at Napier Girls, the school I work at, so it involves seeing him every morning for staff briefing! So that one gets a bit awkward at some points...
Last night was one of the coolest evenings I've had for a while. We had originally planned to go and bum around with Kathi, one of the volunteers near us, watching NZs Next Top Model with a load of junk food. Until we realised it was Friday 13th! There's this huge maze in Hawkes Bay (The Amazing Maze of Maize...) and they have CornEvil season going on...
So we took a trip up there and god, it was seriously the coolest thing ever. We were queueing for ages, but it was so worth it! We finally got in at 10:20pm, so it was pitch black and we strated freaking out before we were even inside! Every now and again I could hear the whirring of a chain saw and terrified screaming! Finally got in, clutching each others hands...
That was awesome in so many ways! Even the guys were jumping and screaming like little girls! The actors in the maze would come up and touch you or follow you, and in some cases chase you round the maze with frakking chainsaws! In one place there was a TV with a load of static and a bloody handprint, and as we turned the corner we had Samara/Sadako (The Ring) crawling out at us! Eep!!!!
School life is funky at the moment, I seem to have managed to tag myself onto every trip that ever existed, which is much fun. We also had our Athletics day which was great and very very competitive! We had a Hostel/Bus/Day girl relay, where it's traditional to sing the hostel song as loud as possible and deafen everyone around us. Obviously the hostel won ;)
xx
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| News from Orc-dom |
[20 Feb 2009|02:01pm] |
An email from Adam (my ex-boss):
Carly,
I have noted that there does not seem to have been any attempt for you to return to school. It is usual for Science staff to notify me if they are unable to be in due to illness, extreme weather etc. I will need a very good reason to explain your continuing absence from school. I am considering formal proceedings and you should contact your union rep for advice.
Regards,
Adam
:)
So things have pretty much settled into a routine now. I have my schedule which mostly consists of year 9 science classes, year 13 Bio, ESOL tuition and a random PE class slotted in there. The classes I've been in so far have been great, I'm either helping the 'brighties' or the slow kids which works for me. One teacher has put me in charge of an ant farm which I have to start up at some point. So all is fun so far!
The year 9 kids are so so cute! They seem so much younger than UK year 9s, maybe just because they have been in secondary school for 2 years already (and think they own the place!) whereas NZ year 9s are all wide eyed and eager.
Living in the boarding hostel with all the girls has been great, though I can't believe how many rules they have. Seriously. But the hostel girls are actually so much nicer and more polite than the others, it must be good for them! While I eat most of my meals with the hostel staff, I have dinner with the girls so I get to chat with them and learn all their names. But god, I suddenly sympathise with all the teachers who used to call me Sherlin, there are so many girls here I get confused so easily! But it's great living with them, any fears I had before about being lonely and bored are out of the window, as I keep getting invited to go and watch Grey's Anatomy with the year 11s or play DS with the internationals. Plus, after prep yesterday one of the Year 13s gave me a 2 hour long waveboarding lesson in the dark. I cannot believe I never heard of those things before, they're fantastic!
Hewett House is the boarding hostel
My room directly faces the school, so when I wake up at freakish hours of the morning I get nice photos like this!
This weekend in Napier is Art Deco weekend, a massive deal where there are cool events going on everywhere. So today at Napier Girls all the staff dressed up in Art deco outfits. I borrowed a load of stuff, since it's not exactly a situation I thought to pack for! But man, it was awesome! I walked into the staffroom in the morning to find a whole room full of people dressed up. Apart from a couple of the staff who were Too Cool and just flipped a feather boa round their necks. So Sarah and I are staying in town this weekend and going to explore all the free events. Hooray!
( Taupo trip! )
xx
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| In which Carly discovers the advantages of making useful contacts... |
[04 Feb 2009|10:32pm] |
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I'm not sitting here in the boarding hostel with a fully functional and awesome internet connection. How? I went to visit Richard the IT technician who gave me a school login, but told me that certain sites (eg. Facebook, Hotmail) were blocked *cue freaking out* There is no way that I'm going to sit here for 6 months without email and facebook access. So I sat and had a long long LONG chat about video games (he plays Final Fantasy! And WoW...) and shared unlikely future ambitions, like working for Squaresoft (the company that produced all the FF games). Well, it's unlikely for me, not so much for him. So...
After all that, I managed to get him to set me up on my laptop with unblocked access to the internet, a cable, and a map of the hostel with all the places I could plug it in. Hooray!
So now I can finally give you a super long update of whats been going on so far. Though it's not really very interesting yet, since I haven't travelled much or put in photos (because I cleverly left my camera cable at home). But anyway...
( Super long update of NZ )
So, there you go! Remind me to tell you about the hostel and the students next time. I keep having to stop typing for meals, then I end up having even more to write about, so i figured I would just get it done all in one go! Now, off to bed ;)
xx
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| Sentimental leavings, origami and awesome people |
[25 Jan 2009|11:13pm] |
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Oh well,
In 5 years time we could be walking around a zoo
With the sun shining down over me and you
and there’ll be love in the bodies of the elephants turning up
Put my hands over your eyes, but you peek through
--Noah and the Whale, '5 Years Later'
It was my last day of work on Friday.
There were some tears, but not until after I'd left, so I got to avoid the whole awkward, puffy-eyed embarrassment. But I was sad, definitely. I've been on both sides of the fence now, being a student and then working there. I've heard the gossip, found out who hates who, and become fully schmooshed into the department (even if it did take me months to get over this name business and actually call them by their first names...)
Anne called me into the staffroom at the beginning of lunch, for my 'leash fitting' (she and Adam have been planning for months to knock me out and lock me in a darkened room, with a chain that reaches from one end of the corridor to the other, and maybe down to IMF so I can do photocopying...). Adam gave a non-speech, and Corin (see what I did there? This man has taught me since I was 11!) presented me with a bag full of wrapped up goodness and poured it all over someone's desk.
In this bag was a...
- cable lock
- spork
- roll of duct tape
- huge NZ map
- origami calendar (a joke from Anne, from a couple of weeks ago where we accidentally started a mini origami club in the prep room)
- anti-theft valuables pouch
- Onyu bag
- travel pedicure set
- bracelet
- necklace
I'm amazed. I will miss Burntwood incredibly. Anne is the person who I can rant to about anything, and solves all my knitting crises, and tells me all about her injuries in a slightly morbid and creepifying way. She's one of the few people I really wish I could be, no matter how much someone pisses her off or is rude to her, she will set out their practicals ASAP without complaining (except to me ;) ) and will do her job no matter what. Even if she doesn't get any extra pay or recognition, she'll still do whatever she has to and 110x more. She's my hero.
Plus, she taught me how to use predictive text, which has made my life a whole lot easier ;)
I gave Anne and Adam 'thank you' cards, and presents (which were kind of pitiful next to what everyone got me but...) at the end of the day. There are now two PANIC buttons in the Science dept, one in the staffroom and one in the prep room. Adam pulled me aside and said lovely things which made me cry. I work for some of the nicest people in the world, I think.
Then I went and wibbled all over Kate and Shona. Which also reminded me that I won't be working with them any longer. I won't see Shona walking around being authoritative and important, or Kate running around doing exam related stuff and looking stressed. I'll miss walking into the Sixth Form office, and seeing everyone cursing each other as they try to get past level 5 of Bouncing Balls.
I can't believe I've finally left. Not pretending to leave like all the other times. Year 11, I knew I would come back for 6th Form. Year 13, I knew I'd be back working for Anne. Now I really have left.
Although I'm coming back to visit in September, Anne is forcing me to take a solar system model claiming it will make a nice decoration for my room in university. I suspect it may also establish me as a complete geek to everyone who walks into my room... Also made it away with my labcoat. Tried to nick my mega bunch of keys (which made me feel so special) unsuccessfully :(
In other news, I had a lovely dinner with my friends last night, which again made me fairly sentimental, and reconfirmed that my friends are absolutely fabulous and I will miss them like crazy. Have made various promises to disguise myself as Gandalf. Also taught my Rebecca (1 year old cousin) to go 'woof woof', to go along with her other words 'look'(which comes out as 'nook') and 'bubble bath'. My girl is awesome.
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| Flash colds and 2009 beginnings |
[06 Jan 2009|12:34am] |
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mood |
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cold |
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music |
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Ninja Ropes - Commentary! The Musical |
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Today...
- Was my first day back at work
- I got a flash cold. I was fine all holiday, and BAM! 9:30am and I sneeze. The next thing I know, I've got a box of tissues sellotaped to my hand and everyone is taking pity on me
- Now I'm drinking Gollum Juice (honey, lemon and ginger), and doped up on various cold & flu meds
- I'm pretty sure I have a dysfunctional relationship with central heating.
- it snowed!
- I've now got food colouring all over my hands (which made for an interesting time with my cold. Every time I blew my nose, my hands would dye my snot various colours...)
- I've done a crazy amount of knitting. I'm so proud of myself ;)
- I noticed that I'm losing my fingerprints. Which will make for a fruitful and exciting life of crime, but doesn't help when opening tiny bottles that require little gripping motions from fingerprints
So it's my first entry of the new year. I would post that summary of LJ 2008 meme thing were it not for the fact that I made about 5 entries last year. Hopefully, this year will be full of 2009 related ramblings, especially since I shall be off to Middle Earth soon to destroy that pesky ring.
Like all the best memes, this survey has been liberated from the journal of secret_hotel at the dead of night, a feat that required stealth, my vanishing fingerprints, and really nice shoes...
( ABC survey )
xx
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| Christmas and ridiculous memes (pretty much just an excuse to use my christmas icon...) |
[26 Dec 2008|11:57pm] |
I cannot believe Christmas has been and gone without me using my Christmas icon! And also....
I had a great Christmas. Lots and lots of puddings (bread and butter pudding (baked by me and Chloe (my aunt)), chocolate fondants (me), banoffee cheesecake (Sherlin)), mulled wine, sweet cousins, awesome food, my uncle's wife who will not stop talking, and a small fungus attached to Chloe's feet, also known as Rebecca.
I also have to take a moment to announce that thanks to Lady Katherine I am the proud owner of the most fantabulous fairytale book that ever existed. I actually can't believe that I have such a gorgeous book, with more of Jan Pienkowski's beautiful illustrations, one of those books that I end up holding really strangely because I'm trying to make sure it is pristine for years to come so I can read it to small children of the future :) Also because I'm a dork.
And thanks to kohl_rimmed_eye I am proudly owned by Lucinda, my new dinosaur.
It's been a strange few weeks. The preparations have begun for NZ. We broke up at school for Christmas, and I can't help thinking that I only have 15 more days working there. I will miss it incredibly.
Speaking of which, we had the Science dept Christmas party last week, which was awesome. I wasn't quite expecting the insanity that goes on when these people are out of school but it was fantastic. Lots of wine, turning Mr Jones' hair into a mini farm, flaming sambucas, drunken storytelling, cracker injuries, and everyone displaying their best party tricks. I managed to impress everyone with my spoon balancing skills :) I also got to hear the X-rated drunken story I've been trying to get out of them for months. Not bad for a few hours work... ;)
And some ridiculous memes...
I named 33 US states in 10 minutes 
Not bad, considering i don't like in the US...
I named 19 organs in 4 minutes! 
Mostly guesswork, since I have absolutely no idea about dog breeds...
Anyway, enough time has been wasted. I'm off to bed
xx
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| She's holding a secret that she'll never tell |
[04 Dec 2008|06:34pm] |
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mood |
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] |
Yoinked off secret_hotel
Put iTunes on shuffle and write down the first line from each song to form a poem. Use the first line of the twenty first song as the title.
What among the lovers
Out here in the fields
On my way up north
Bells ring into the night
Lonesome is I, I wished I could die
I was born secular
One pill makes you larger
Tonight I'm like a paper doll
Been beat up and battered around
Something is changing inside of me
Follow me down to the laughing city
I never loved nobody fully
Never knew I could feel like this
Dare datte ichido wa oozora wo toberu sa (Anyone can fly in the big sky once)
On the ground with my world upside-down
Life’s a show and we all play our parts
You don't need to change
A quelle étoile, à quel Dieu (To which star, to which God)
I will never know
With the sampled heart beat and the stolen soul
Naturally, when you're listening out for the lyrics of songs, iTunes decides to play all the soundtracks/instrumental stuff...
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| Work, illness and a search & rescue mission prompted by my silliness... |
[03 Dec 2008|06:31pm] |
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mood |
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 giggly |
] |
Mr. Bones from town said he saw you the other day
He said you changed but he wouldn't say how
Well it can always turn
Yeh, it can always turn
A wing can always turn
--Emiliana Torrini, 'Honeymoon Child'
Last week a shocking and unfortunate event occured.
Anne was ill.
This is a woman who in 8 years has taken a grand total of 2½ days off (1½ of those being last week). She is pretty much a superhero, runs around all day doing practicals and everything, then goes home and cooks a ridiculously exciting meal for her family. The only other person to top this record is Mr Jones (who i still can't bring myself to call Corin) who has never been ill in 8 years. But he's practically inhuman so that doesn't count.
(He actually maintains that this is due to the fact he doesn't eat or drink while at school, except cake when it's someone's birthday. Anne doesn't eat lunch either. Therefore he has come to the conclusion that not eating lunch improves your immune system, and frankly lunch is for girls.)
I am a girl, so I reserve the right to eat lunch.
Anyway, Anne caught the 24 hour flu-symptom-like/vomiting bug thats making it's way around the UK. I made her go home, and she was off the day after as well (she wanted to come in but her husband locked her in the house, taking away her car and work keys...) leaving me in charge of all her practicals.
Being Anne, I've learned, is scary business. At the beginning of this year she allocated herself all the difficult teachers (usually senior team people, who order practicals 15 mins into the actual lesson...) and more than usual because I was helping her. It wasn't until after she'd left that I actually had a brief moment of panic. Anne may be able to deal with all the demanding teachers, but how the hell will I, a mere mortal, cope with them?!
Turns out that I was awesome and calmly explained that yes, Anne has gone home and no I can't do that for you because I'm not a frakking miracle worker. Plus, I suspect Adam (Head of Science) told the rest of the staff that she had gone and to be nice to me, which helped :)
So during her absence, the following events occured:
- We flooded into the English staffroom (they're on the floor below Science). Again. (not my fault)
- I prompted a frantic search around the school (...was my fault...)
- We received an awesome delivery. Mr Jones and I opened it (he was disturbingly gleeful about it...) to discover two new sets of frozen lungs, a packet of sheeps eyes, some preserved rats, a blood testing kit and an encased tarantula.
Did I mention how much I love my job?
About the search...after Anne had left, I got bored in the prep room and went to ask Adam if he needed anything. I ended up staying in the staffroom for the next 4 hours working on the computer. Mary and Farah (the other technicians) freaked out and thought I'd disappeared, running around the whole school looking for me. Finally, Mary went into the staffroom to tell Mr Tedd that I was AWOL, only to find me sitting in the staffroom. Oops... o_O
So it's been a busy week. But fun. Plus, the people I work with are generally just awesome ;)
xx
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| "Dear Buddha, please bring me a pony, and a plastic rocket, and one of those—" |
[01 Dec 2008|11:46pm] |
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mood |
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 embarrassed |
] |
I've always hated it when people ask me what I want, mostly because it just seems uneccessarily rude to list all my obnoxious demands to someone who was really just asking to be polite, and doesn't actually care. But hey, writing it down isn't the same since it's in my LJ, and obnoxious demands can be skipped over with one flick of a finger. Unless you don't have a scrolly thing on your mouse, in which case it takes a little more effort to skip over, but still very possible.
Anyway, I learned a while ago that when you don't tell people what you want for your birthday/Christmas, you get many things you don't know what to do with, or nothing at all. And while I hate wishlists, writing one doesn't actually mean that I'm going to get anything on it. That said, I'm sure you're meant to do birthday wishlists a little earlier that 7 days before...
( Things that I not-so-secretly would love to have in an ideal world... )
...and a partridge in a pear tree
xx
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| 5 Ways To Make Your Workplace Warmer |
[24 Nov 2008|07:45pm] |
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mood |
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cold |
] |
1) Pour sand all over the floor and make an indoor beach, and pretend it's summer
2) Attach floodlights to the wall outside your window and make the light shine inwards. Then it feels like the sun is beaming through the windows
3) Make little foil outfits for all your colleagues, and pretend you are aliens and you don't feel the cold
4) Play loud music so everyone in the building thinks there's a disco, and they come up to dance. All the dancing and strangers invading your personal space will increase the temperature of the room and also your body temperature as many awkward encounters and groping should occur.
5) Steal all the computers in existence and rig them so they overclock. The heat given out by all of them will warm the place right up.
I suggested these to Anne, and she decided that maybe we should just buy a mini heater *shrugs*
It is so so cold. Our prep room doesn't have double glazing since they ran out of money when they were refurbishing the school (we're on the top floor). Funnily enough, we're also on the last phase of the next refurbishment in a couple of years for BSF (Building Schools for the Future). We'll be lucky to even get windows next time, instead we'll just have these gaping holes in the side of the wall. Seagulls will perch in the holes for warmth, then realise that it's actually colder inside than outside. Then they'll feel cheated and disgusted at our treachery, and will poo all over the equipment.
Oh, I'm cold.
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| Writer's Block: Bedside Manners |
[18 Nov 2008|08:43pm] |
So obviously the first thing that springs to mind would be Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital (House). Now that is one beautiful hospital.... Not sure that I'd like all those glass walls though. And while House would be an amazing doctor, I'm sure his bedside manner would be much less amusing when it's happening to me.
Thought #2 was East Hampton Hospital Trust (Green Wing). And I'd like Mac to be my doctor please. I would totally play Spoon of Destiny with him. And have my operations done in regional accents.
...But do I really want my anaesthetist playing a keyboard and smoking in the OR? I think not.
And finally (I don't normally think so much...), thought #3 was Kingdom Hospital (Stephen King). Because that would be hilarious. Yeah, I want a giant anteater and a handful of ghosts running around the hopsital ;)
Halloween with Neil Gaiman was awesome. I made friends with a girl in the queue dressed as a harlequin, and a dude called Scott that I ended up spending pretty much the whole evening with. He's a Browncoat/obsessive Joss Whedon fan (*cue several hours of dorky conversation*) plus studied special effects make up which is pretty damn cool ;)
Anyway, Neil read a chapter from The Graveyard Book, then did Q&As ("Are you going to lend Jonathan Ross any money?" "How do you keep your hair so bouncy?") and finally a signing.
I think I may be cursed. Or have some kind of medical condition. But every single time I queue, I somehow end up last. Airport Immigration, shopping at Sainsbury's, every single damn time I get into a queue I'm destined to be at the end. So even though Scott and I got up waaay befor the rest of the people in our row, we still ended up last. And a signing queue for Neil Gaiman is long.
So we waited. Had a chat with the people in front of us who taught me how to read the copyright page of books to tell if it was a first edition (they were collectors...) and also the members of staff who decided to join the queue after me. And a couple of hours later we were at the front. One of the staff handed me and Scott a free book (he got Wolves in the Walls, I got The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish), Neil signed our books and we had a mini chat since he was no longer in a hurry to get through 300+ people worth of signings.
And then he thanked me for waiting so long and shook my hand for being the last in the queue :)
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
( long long movie meme )
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| There’s always someone carelessly class/There’s always questions no one asks |
[30 Oct 2008|01:39pm] |
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mood |
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 okay |
] |
and if there is a way to find you
i will find you
but will you find me if neil
makes me a tree
an afro a pharoah
i can't go
you said so
and threads that are golden don't break easily
--Tori Amos, 'Horses'
So this is my first time to enjoy half term as a member of staff, and not a student. But it's been so stressful and confusing, I think I preferred working. I demand a refund on my half term.
Various points of interest over the past 2 weeks:
The Sarah Connor Chronicles hasn't been axed!
- Delayed reaction, I know...
- Fox, how dare you even think about taking my favourite shows away from me! Grr!
Kate and I were at 'Burntwood's Got Talent' selling drinks
- ...and drinking a fair amount of wine while we were at it...
I learned that I can make fairly good sushi, even while slightly tipsy
- On the inset day, the Science dept was doing a bring and share lunch thingy. I made the sushi the evening before, after I got back from BGT, and you couldn't even tell! :)
- The lunch was way yummy, mmmm...
- Mr Homer Mark particularly liked my sushi
- I sat next to the new student teacher. He's got eyes so blue you could swim in them. Seriously.
I got some of my details for my NZ trip
- Including which school I'm going to (a rather posh looking boarding school in Napier) and my date of departure
- Napier, according to wiki, has the second most sunshine in NZ!
- I'm leaving scarily earlier than I thought, right at the end of January. So I have to go and sort out my last day at work soon. Which I'm not looking forward to, because I love my job *sigh*
- The people I'm going with (especially the girl who's in Napier with me) are awesome and lovely and there is a great hive of Facebook activity going on now.
- I can't wait
I've booked my flights for NZ
- Which has been the headache of the century.
- I'm going through Melbourne for 10 days, then LA/San Francisco for 22 days
- And now my bank account is hurting...
I just broke my glasses
- The side just broke off..
- I think it's karma for not going to the opticians for ages. Looks like I'm wearing contacts for the next few weeks...
Sarah Lark is the cover for Nancy in Oliver!
- Masterchef is probably the as far into reality TV as I'm willing to venture, but I have to admit that I was a closet I'd Do Anything fan, and I loved Sarah. She left the show waaay too early, and I maintain she is a much better singer than Rachel. So I'm all yay, and will have to time my trip to the theatre for when Sarah is Nancy :)
- But how curious (and awesome!) that they picked Sarah, rather than any of the 5 that got voted out afterwards. See, I knew they made a mistake letting Andrew Lloyd Webber make the final decision about who left each week!
- But I still wish that Chester could have got through as one of the Olivers... :(
I did a major spring clean of my room
- I was trying to find my sister's shoes that I borrowed off her a while ago
- Didn't find them, but I did find my diary which I lost 2 years ago. So I can read all my old teenagery angst and rants :)
Neil Gaiman is doing a talk and signing tonight!
- and I have tickets! Hooray!
- Dave McKean is signing in Forbidden Planet as well, but since I have the edition of the book illustrated by Chris Riddell, that could be kind of awkward...
Going to see Avenue Q next week
- Yay!
Anyway, off to go and mix up some fake blood. Halloween with Neil Gaiman, oh Yes :)
xx
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| I don't wanna rock the road between dreams and worldly things |
[16 Oct 2008|08:37pm] |
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mood |
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 thoughtful |
] |
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music |
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Julia Möller y Carlos Gramaje - Por Que Llorar |
] |
And is he dark enough?
Enough to see your light?
--Damien Rice, 'Accidental babies
So, another crazy week at the office.
Except now I've been outed as a pathological liar, because:
1) It's been weirdly quiet this week, and
2) I don't work in an office
So naturally, when it's open season we have 500 practicals to do for the open evenings and another 500 that teachers order in their lessons. And the week after? AKHT! (a new exclamation of disgust/surprise that I'm trying to integrate into everyday conversation). Hardly any practicals and we all sit around the prep room table twiddling our thumbs.
It's a nice change though. Last week we were running around crazily, flopping down exhausted, running into the staffroom to get cake, then preparing for open days etc. So today I spent the whole afternoon playing with all the snazzy SMART toys that we spend the science budget on. There's some kind of plastic sheet thingy (look at that show of true scientific language!) which if you put your hand or a penny on it, it looks like it's sinking. There's SMART putty, which is a non-Newtonian glob of goo, which oozes if you squish it and shatters if you throw it. And finally a temperature sensitive which I was playing with for hours, making handprints and writing my name in heat. AWESOME.
I also made the interesting discovery that iodine looks incredibly similar to soy sauce. I was filling up millions of tiny iodine bottles, ad had mini flashbacks to filling up soy sauce bottles. I wonder if there have been many soy sauce/iodine related incidents? Like in a surgery, brushing with soy sauce to disinfect, or adding iodine to stir fries. That could be awkward. And potentially fatal....
So, don't eat in the lab kids. Or at least, don't cook chinese food in any case...
Finishing school has meant that I'm left without a diary/organiser/planner thing. And it's taken me 3 months to realise that I cannot function without a small book informing me of what I need to do. I guess I could try keeping a small mythical being or a ragamuffin in my pocket telling me what to do, but an organiser seems somewhat less demanding. And...slightly more ethical. Plus, where would I get a ragamuffin? So after much running around, I went to kohl_rimmed_eye's Waterstones and bought a very very cute one. Shortly followed by yumminess and the following quote:
[Re: Me spilling ice cream (the best ever Chilli Chilli Chocolate SpiceCream, the most awesome thing EVER]
Jenn: You should not be allowed near food ever again...
Me: But how would I live?
Jenn: You could have an IV drip? But then, you'd probably spill that too...
Ooooh....bitchy, huh? Yeesh, I have such horrible friends... ;)
(Vote YES on Prop 3.14: turning ragamuffins into actual rags and/or muffins)
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