Never Established

This post is dedicated to SkyeRainOfSorrow, because they don’t want to read long posts.

I went to Emu Gully on Friday.

[What, you honestly thought I could go without posting a long and boring description of my day?]

Emu Gully is this Year 12 Leadership Camp. It goes from 8 in the morning to 10 at night, and it’s based around the ANZACs in the first and second World War. There were quite a few activities. At the very beginning, I followed a decision [which I think only Alan knows of, heh] and decided to, at the very least, attempt every activity, no matter how scared I was.

We arrived and got a half hour talk about the camp, and then we started to play this ‘bullet’ game. What happened was that there were about four people with black bands around their arm, and they were bullets. They ran around and tagged people, and those people ‘died’. To un-die, four people had to grab an arm/leg each, and carry the person to a ‘hospital’ [a mat on the ground].

After that, we split up into CLP [homeroom, roll call, whatever] groups and started our activities. The first activity we got was the Marsh [or whatever it was called, heh]. Basically, it was reconstructing all the mud and quicksand conditions that soldiers had to face. We had to build a ‘Bridge’across the marsh, using four planks of wood of different sizes. Now, there are about 20 people in our CLP group, so it wasn’t going to be easy. Added to that, there are 6/7 stumps to use, and the distance is quick long, considering. In the end, we used the wrong plank first, and we had to cheat in order to achieve the goal, and even then we didn’t make in within the time limit. But we got told that we were ‘developing a working relationship very well’, or something like that, so that was great, hee. ^_^

The second activities were the tunnels, and I swear, I was so freaked out as soon as I realised what we had to do. The activity was called the Tunnel Rats of Vietnam, [at least, that's what I think it was called] and we had to go through these sewer-type tunnels. [They weren't actually sewer tunnels, although at one specific part, it did smell like it.] When I realised that for the first part, you had to crawl over rocks and stuff to actually get to the tunnel, I was so scared. But I went in — fourth [first girl, too, lol] — and I crawled along like the best of them. I came out of the first tunnel and went down the slide, coaxing myself out of my growing claustrophobia. Because you went down the slide feet first, you had to crawl over the in-tunnel obstacles feet first, as well. But I did get to the end of the tunnel. At that point, someone from the team [the first person through, usually] had to boost you up in order to get out, because it was so high. [Teamwork aspect, heh.] And the guys already out helped too. You started the thread and last tunnel, and crawled along head first. The tunnel opened to a smalled tunnel which was on an angle from the first — uphill. Because we were going head first, it really stretched your back. There was a rope and because your legs were stuck in the wider tunnel, you couldn’t use them to help you. So I hoisted myself up and climbed that damn rope. That tunnel opened up into a tank. Once you got out of the tunnel, you had to rock climb around the tank to the exit. I fell off, however, so I stayed and helped the others get out before I finished.

Lunch was hot dogs and chips; both surprising quality considering it was mass-produced, lol.

After that [No, don't groan, I'm not even halfway through yet] we had this activity called The Siege of Tabruck [I can't remember the spelling]. It was probably my least favourite, because it was kind of boring. We got these ’supplies’ and had to load them [and ourselves] into a boat. There were about 20 of us, and we were all in this dingy-style boat. We chose a captain and had to navigate through the damn. There were attacks by ‘bombs’ [swinging sandbags] and we had to navigate through them. We got to the dock at the other side, and we had four ‘runners’ take the cargo to a ‘holding dock’ about 50-75 metres away. We did that in 1 minute flat, which was great. ^_^

The last rotation activity was The Bridge. It’s really hard to describe, so I’ve drawn a diagram.

Basically, the wobble plank was only held on by chains. Two people had to enter the bridge from opposite sides, meet in the middle, and pass each other. The wobble plank was about enough to have two feet side by side. It certainly wasn’t enough to have two people side by side. Basically when you met in the middle, you had to get really close and trust the other person to keep you there, because both of you had to lean back to get past. I made it on the first go, yay! ^_^

Then came the mud. We had to climb through mud that was at least knee high. I’m not going to go into it, it was so difficult. We totally had to rely on the other people in our team, because one of the hills was too tall for one person to reach by themselves. It was about 3 and a half people tall, and you really had to have help, because the mud was sticky. I have bruises from where people were helping me, because they were pulling on my arm in the same place. Once I was up, my arms were so tired but I still grabbed on of my friends to start to make a chain, although I wasn’t sure if I could actually hold him if I needed to, my arms were so weak. It was insane.

When we finished the mud, we jumped into the little dam in order to get the mud off, then we jumped into the big dam. In the big dam, there was this really high diving board. At first, I wasn’t going to take part, but then I thought “I’ll regret it if I don’t”, so I forced myself to jump from it. I’d had to psyche myself up to do it, and as soon as I was in the air falling towards the water, I was screaming. But I came up laughing, and I was so proud of myself for doing it. And then I made myself do it again, just to prove I could. ^_^

Dinner was really nice, and it was Chicken Schniztel. I know! I hate it, lol. But it was breast meat and it sort of tasted a bit like fish and not at all wierd, so it doesn’t count.

The last activity of the day was the Night Hike. We had to take a person on a stretcher and walk something like 3 km with them. Because there were 20 of us, it was easier, but the obstacles were kind of hard. We first started and we had to go down a slide, and the person in the stretcher had to stay in the stretcher whilst going down the slide. We passed that obstacle [someone sat at the front of the stretcher, in between the two poles, and they went down together] and continued on. We got to a hill. It was quite large, but I found it easy to climb, despite how tired I was. There were lots of roots and stuff to grab, so it was simple. Once we got into position, we had to start to pass the stretcher up. We went through over-head-high grass, and climbed through brush and stuff [all with the stretcher] and then we reached the River. There were two wires, one above the head and one to stand on, and we had to make our way across. The person in the stretcher had a ‘miraculous recovery’ and got across themselves, lol. I was the last in the line, and the damn thing was swinging something fierce, but I made it. Immediately after that was The Cliff.

The Cliff was huge, and if I saw it in daylight I probably would say “I can’t do that”, but I did and it really wasn’t that hard. I coaxed one of the other girls to go up and then I went up myself, wrapped my arm around a tree and grabbed another girls hand to stop her from falling while she grabbed the stretcher as it [and the guy on it] was passed up.

And that was the last obstacle, although we did have to go up an incline, and we almost set the stretcher down on an antbed accidentally.

At the end of the day, it was a really great experience. I attempted and actually did each of the activities and I really learned a lot about myself, leadership, and teamwork, heh. I know that sounds sappy and stuff, but I actually enjoyed being challenged in such a way. It was…fantastic.

^_^

Sorry about the length of the post, lol. XD

Today, I am going to let you in on the reason I prefer ff.net to Fiction Alley. [Admittedly, most of you won't care, but I feel like telling you.] Fiction Alley, as you may or may not know, is the headquarters/collective domain of The Astronomy Tower, Schnoogle, The Dark Arts and Riddikulus.

Now, I know many authors in the fandom will completely refuse point-blank to visit ff.net. They complain about the quality of the work, about how the layout is so bland and so forth. And they say that because Fiction Alley is a “submission review” site (that is, that before your work goes up, it has to be approved) that the quality on Fiction Alley is therefore better.

It isn’t. In fact, in terms of good fics-bad fics, writing wise, both ff.net and Fiction Alley are pretty much even. The difference is [and listen closely, because this is the reason I prefer ff.net] the following:

Ff.net’s sparse layout and its automatic update strips away the gloss and leaves the bare bones of the piece; the story itself and the talent of the author. Within seconds of entering a story on ff.net, I can tell whether or not this story is worth reading. If there’s no formatting in the story, I can tell immediately. I don’t leave the story because of that, but it does put me off a little. A mistake within the first three paragraphs, and I’ll be put off more, often so much that I will leave. And as for the writing itself; within the first sentence, I’d have an idea of the writing, and within the first paragraph I know whether or not I want to continue.

The fact is, on Fiction Alley, these things get diluted. Fiction Alley [or rather, the majority of patrons of Fiction Alley] will include some form of formatting, so immediately it becomes harder to find those stories that aren’t worth my time. Fiction Alley’s screening process requires beta-reading and almost perfect spelling and punctuation, and even one Canonical error in spelling is enough for rejection. So there goes another of my criteria. The fact of the matter is, these standards force people to improve their fic’s punctuation, spelling, and grammar. But the story is still the same types of stories that I see on ff.net.

The problem is, that it takes a while to see that it’s a crap story and the writing is horrible, rather than being able to tell instantly.

And that is why I like FF.net more than Fiction Alley.

[At least that's the main reason. There's also the fact that on ff.net I can sort by characters, which means I don't have to go into a story and find out that it's slash -- Fiction Alley stories rarely have pairings in the summaries.

The other reason is that I can never figure out where cross genre stories go. Several of my stories are Romance/Angst, And I can never decide if they should go in The Astronomy Tower [Romance] or The Dark Arts [Angst]. ]

That isn’t to say that Fiction Alley doesn’t have its good points. It’s just…harder to find them underneath all the formatting.

I had to go to school today, and when I came home I was very annoyed, as Alan can testify. However, he soon snapped me out of my bad mood, so I won’t mention that except to say that having to wait an hour and a half in a line when it’s been implied that it’ll take about 15 minutes [and you're the 3rd person in your Grade's line] is enough to put anyone in a bad mood.

After that expirience, though, we went to K-Mart in order to get some bum clothes for my Leadership Camp tomorrow. I need old clothes that can get muddy, and since I’m a very classy girl [You can decide if that's sarcastic or not] I don’t currently have any. I just grabbed a pair of pants and a shirt and went “They’re hideous! Perfect!” and bought them. In the process, I also bought a pair of swimwear, as well, which is cool.

While I was trying this stuff on, I got a phonecall from the other production co-ordinator. She was on leadership camp today, and I SMSed her to let her know about the auditions. However, I’d gotten the day wrong, and she was in a panic because it had been announced to them as being on Sunday, not Saturday..so much calling and stress ensued before I realised I was totally incorrect, lol. I hope she got the reply SMS, heh. I’m sure she would have.

I was talking to Mum today, as well, and I mentioned that I wanted to get a computer because I don’t want to have to fight with Michael in order to get the computer to get my assignments this year, because I’ll be stressed enough as it is. So, Mum decided I should get a laptop, because then if I go travelling, I can take it with me. She’s decided that if I get one that can connect to the internet then I can sponge off the broadband connection we already have, so we’re going to make enquiries about that.

And she’s going to help me with my resignation letter, too. I know I’ve spoken to some of you about this, heh, and to those that I haven’t, just let me say there is a reason for it; I’m not just being lazy or something, lol. I’m not sure if I’ll actually get up the gumption to resign or hand in the letter, but it’ll be typed. That’s a start, at least.

Thanks to Alan for being fantastic and reassuring me, or at the very least making me feel better about not being reassured, heh. ^_^ And also go give him some comments and fluff because he’s back at school and he hates it.

I haven’t actually done anything since I was here last. I haven’t worked, I haven’t gone to school, I haven’t gone out..

No, wait, I did go out, ha.

I went out with my friends one of them just came back from England, so it was great to see him again. He actually works with me, and got me the job at work, really, so I’m really glad he’s back. We went to the movies; organised to go out at 4:30. Got there, decided we’d have dinner and then go and see what movies were on, thinking we had time. We finished eating and got back to the movies at 5:30, and realised that all of the movies we were looking at were supposed to start about 20 minutes ago. So we went to McDonalds across the road and got dessert, then raced each other back up to the movie cinemas. Two of the guys took the ramp, and myself and the other guy took the stairs. A lady was actually going up the stairs, and she stepped back and was like, “You guys better beat them”.

And we did, only we went up one floor too far and couldn’t get into the complex, so while the other two snuck in through the opening doors and stuff, we had to go through the carpark and walk around the complex to the entrance. And it started to rain, as well, lol. But we did get there, and we played some games of Foosball while passing the time before the next movie.

Eventually, we did get our tickets and saw The Incredibles [again, hehe.] Our friend who’d just came back from England had never seen it, so we saw it from him.

There was practically no one in the cinema, so once the movie finished, we stood on the chairs and made hand puppets with the projectors. It was fun.

I got a lift home, too, and then couldn’t get to sleep until about 2:00, so I woke up about 12:00 this morning, which meant I’d missed the chance to go for my learner’s liscence again.

And then I spent the day going, “Oh, so bored, Why isn’t Alan online to talk to? Or someone, anyone?” And then I remember Alan was at school. School sucks. I really don’t want to go back, but y’know, apparently all the teachers say that year 12 has a much less workload that year 11 [Not that I believe that!], and the 4th term is practically non-existant, so I’m hoping for the best.

I worked today, which wasn’t so fun. Arrived about 15 minutes early [and I was opening] but that was okay, because the managers are there 2 hours before anyone else. So I arrived early, and the manager at the time is new; it was her first open. I’d been intending to do the Salads and get them out of the way before it got busy. But because the New Manager was doing her first open, she was running behind, so I helped her out a bit. So I was late to start the Salads, and when the Head Manager came in, fourty five minutes later, I’d only done 5 Caeser Salads, instead of finishing the Caeser salads, the Mediterranean Salads and the regular Garden Salads.

So the head manager got angry at me for that, even though it really wasn’t my fault. But y’know, it was the New Manager’s first open and I didn’t want her to get in trouble, so instead of saying something and getting myself out of trouble, I just nodded, apologised and went to fill the fridge. I mean, it kind of annoyed me that the New Manager didn’t say anything, but at the same time, I think she really appreciated it.

So that was my good deed for the day, heh.

After work, went to a friend’s house and played the Nintendo 64 with their kids [who are about 6 and could most probably kick my arse, lol.]. We played Mario Party 2 and did this cool thing with the Mini-game Train, heh. It was fantastic. I forgot how much I missed the 64. My friends and I used to play it ages ago, and I just love it. Not so much the James Bond games, but the classic Nintendo Games; that Mario one, with Bowser’s Castle and you run around getting coins and points and stuff, and the Mario Party, and Mario Kart and it was just so cool. So I’ve decided I’m going to buy one. I figure I can pick it up pretty cheaply now, with all the ‘New Generation Game Consoles’ or whatever they are. I love all the old games like that. The …superstation, Sony…eh, can’t remember what. It had that Yoshi game on it? Loved that too, hehe. Those games are so much fun!

Then the 8 year old dragged me away and we played Monopoly. It was fun, although I find it really hard playing with kids because I have to tone down my playing. >.> Now that I actually ‘understand’ Monopoly, it’s lots of fun playing ruthlessly with my friends. We all try to thwart each other for playing leverage, and when the time comes to swap, it’s so fun. We demand things like ‘If I give you this card, then I want 20% discount whenever I land on one of your properties, as well as Park Lane, and four hundred dollars’. That’s the fun with Monopoly, I think. It’s very much a grown person type of game, because you have to understand tactics and think about it all before you can really go far. [And then around 1 at night when we're calling in bank loans, then we stop, haha.]

So all in all, a good day, yeah.

EDIT: It was the Super Nintendo, ha. My brother’s memory is so much better than mine!

*whew* I am here. Still alive and kicking and handing out food. ^_^ I’ve meant to post, really I have, but I’ve been so busy. Work’s just been insane. I did 3-something hours Thursday, 4 on Friday, 4 today and another 4 tomorrow. I know this is really bad, but I’m just sick of it. I’m sick of having to pacify people who seem to think I’m not human, and that they can take it out on me because they’ve had a crap day. I’m so ready to tell them to go suck on a lemon if they don’t like it, lol. But of course, we can’t do that, lol. It’ll get better once I get more into it, but I’ll keep my eye out for ‘opportunities in other places’, lol.

I mean, I don’t mind it so much. The girls are all really very nice, and the guys are too. Most of the managers are fantastic, but…yeah, sometimes it gets on top of me. Not that I ever let the customers see that.

Today’s post doesn’t have anything to do with stockings, actually. Alan contributed today’s title, although he didn’t know it.

I did find a beta reader. I actually had a really long chat with her last night, too, and we went over the plot and she helped me develop it and stuff, which is great. I’m really happy that she’s doing it and helping me. I’ll work on it some more soon, hopefully. *nods*

Must dash. Mum bought Jaffa and chocolate ice-cream; my personal favourites. I will post again soon, I promise!

You know, I think one of my biggest peeves on the internet is when someone you don’t talk to very often — like, a couple of lines once a month — will start a conersation with a link. It just pisses me off. I mean, if it’s someone I talk to often, then that’s fine. I know it’ll be something I want to look at.

But when someone just links right there, you know they aren’t linking because they want to talk to you. They’re linking you to that because they want some form of praise. They want to plug their story/ banner/ website/ photo/ whatever.

The way that comes across to me is that they couldn’t be bothered to even greet me, that all they want is another person saying, “That’s great!”

We all know at least one person like that, I think. I know several. And it just…gets to me. I wouldn’t mind it so much if it went something like, “Hi, I have a new [whatever] up. Want to see?”

That way, I’ll a) know what I’m going to be clicking into. b) Get the chance to refuse if I don’t want to, and c) don’t feel like I’m being used [or compelled to be a sycophant].

But, yeah. That’s one of my peeves, heh.

I have photo! Admittedly, nothing as good as Alan or Juu are capable of producing, but it serves its purpose, heh.

I quite like this picture, to be honest. I’ve taken some doozies in my time, but this is pretty good for me. I took it about two minutes ago, hehe, didn’t use a mirror or anything. [I did try taking photos using the mirror, but I couldn't use flash then, which meant that it didn't make my hair shine, so you couldn't even see the difference anyway.] But yeah. Normally I have more freckles…I guess they’ve faded or something. I expected it to turn out shinier, too, because I put this cream on my face for the sunburn earlier, which makes my face greasy…you can’t see the sunburn either, really. o.O;

Anyway, must go, because my poor organisation in the past means that Alan has to do menial tasks, so I’ll do them for the poor boy.

Gah! I can’t get find the comments link!

Okay, I’m back. I did mean to edit the other day to let you know I’m fine and not at all angry with anyone or anything, heh, but my friend was going away and I had to leave so mum and I could pick her up and drop her off at the bus station…

Since then I’ve been working on this site. Mainly two parts of this site. Namely, the links, and something I didn’t really tell anyone about, but have had in mind for a while; my writings.

Links has been done pretty half-arsed, really. I only linked from people who had buttons [pretty much] and I didn’t do any myO’s, yet, because there are so many people I want to link and I didn’t have those buttons, and I didn’t want anyone to feel left out. I know that, a while ago, people did have buttons for their myO, so if they’d send them to me, I’d be much appreciative. ^_^ My buttons aren’t really anything special, so anyone who feels inspired or anything, feel free to make more, heh.

My writings is actually in the form of a blog, I suppose. You’d be hard pressed to find titles; I think there are two. They’re all dated, however [and extending back to August, 2003], because I transferred the entries from my old writings blog. Most of the stories aren’t complete, aren’t even stories, and so on…but they’re there.

I did dye my hair on Saturday night, and I washed it again this morning. After all my protestations ["No, no, don't worry, it's a crap dye, it leaves after the first wash!"]…the dye is still there. But I’m not complaining. It probably won’t stay much longer; the tips are already blonde. I did get photos, but they aren’t that great. The red looks really good with my pale complexion, hee [So modest!]. Of course, it looked better before I got sunburnt on Sunday, of course. The sun was really hot and my friend and I walked to the park, so it got a little pink, heh. But it did look very good — and very coppery. Because I’m naturally a light to mid blonde, it was really bright, hehe. Anyway, I’n thinking next time I’ll dye it black [Just for James ] but I’m a little afraid it’ll go grey when it starts to rinse out.

I tried to get my brother to watch Kill Bill today. He got through the fight with Vernita and The Bride, and then decided it was boring. I was like, “Boring? She just tried to shoot her, and she just threw a knife into her chest. How is that boring??” He was like, “It just isn’t my kind of movie.” Well, I had to roll my eyes.

The think I love about Kill Bill is that every time I see it, my appreciation for it grows. The first viewing, I could see the humour but was too wrapped up in the violence to find it funny. The second time, I got the humour and found it funny. And the third times [and so on] I sort of realise that Kill Bill does what very few movies really do; it blurs the lines of good and bad. No other movie I’ve seen has had heros that you sometimes want to hate, and villains you feel real compassion for. It really draws you into their life, and you want to know their backstory. As my friend commented when Oren and Kiddo fought, it seems like those two were friends when they were in the group together, and it seems harder for her to kill Oren than it is to kill the others. And Budd! I had so much compassion for him…before he gave her a texas funeral. Stuff like that. It really blurs the lines. ^_^ Fantastic movie, is all I can say.

[I did try to take a picture of the henna tattoo, but it's really hard to take a picture of your back. >.>]

Am kinda down at the moment. Don’t ask why, I’m not really in the mood to discuss it. Just letting you know in case you try to talk to me on AIM and get mortally offended when I’m not my usual self. Suffice to say, it’s nothing big.

Will edit/post something new later.

You know, I did plan to update about four or five hours ago, but I got sidetracked and somehow got out of the window and it wasn’t until I was off the computer I thought, “Where did my update window go?”

We did the henna last night, and it isn’t as dark as I expected, though apparently it does get darker over 48 hours. It’s a very cool pattern and I love it, hehe. I’ll probably take a photo for you in the near future. [What, another photo?, I hear you groan. XD]

I’m goign to a friend’s house tonight, and he’s going to dye my hair red, either tonight or tomorrow morning [or somewhere in the middle, knowing us.] We’re going to Deyve’s [Pronounced Dave] concert-thing the next day, with me all red-haired and tattooed, hehe.

So before then, I have to clean my room/get more stuff swapped and do the dishes, as well as watch Jem [I love that cartoon!] and also eat dinner, have a shower, etc.

We’re having Chicken Schnitzel for dinner. I hate it. I hate the taste, I hate the texture, I hate the weird-arse crumbs it’s bathed in. And for some reason, we eat Schnitzel, like, every damned week. Normally I chop it up into smaller pieces and force a couple down and say I’m too full to eat the rest, but I always feel really guilty afterwards, so I’ll probably eat it all tonight, even though it’s really too hot to eat anyway. *shudder* Give me steak and sausages anyday.

I got back to work in four days, and it seems so close now. Getting a bit worried, especially since I haven’t done half the things I’m supposed to do before I go back i.e. Finish swapping my room, at least 1 Writing School assignment [plus letter of apology for being so slow], the 3 chapter of the fanfiction story I’m writing, etc. There’s just so much to do in four days.

And, as well as that, I have to find a new beta reader. A beta reader is something like an editor in the fanfiction world. They go through your story and fix the grammar, flow, and characterisation as well as [depending on who your beta is] look at the plot and try to help you weave it together so you don’t have any gaping plot holes. For me, they’re almost essential. Unless it’s a one-shot [and I'm extraordinarily happy with it], I always run it through the beta first. It’s like my beta is my personal ‘firewall’ and they prevent me from putting anything crap up. Both Alan and Shy have offered to take a look at the story for me [and I have every belief they'd do it fantastically, heh, and I was incredibly touched that they'd offer. ^_^], I really need someone from the fandom to be a beta. Partly because a) Most people from the HP fandom know canon like the back of their hand, and b) because it’s often a very in depth thing, and a beta stays with you for the rest of your fandom career, until one or both of you can’t do it anymore.

At the moment, I’ve had two ‘real’ betas. That is to say, two people I consider beta readers. I did have a couple more, but they faded away [and never actually betaed anything] or were kind of crap at what they did. [Really, I mean it. I remember I got a betaed version of a story back, and all they'd done was changed my spelling a bit. How is that supposed to help me?] But these two girls have been fantastic. Amanda and Nicole were just brilliant. ^_^ And are. I don’t see Amanda much, but she’s one of the people who first got me into Rasputina, and she’s actually reviewed every fic I’ve posted onto the internet — including the ones in Russian. Nicole is much the same. She’s still my beta, actually, but she’s been really busy lately, so it mightn’t stay that way because she’s got so much work to do [thus she hasn't been able to get to my fic, thus I've been looking for a new beta].

The term beta reader comes from the fact that, as a writer, you are the ‘alpha reader’ of your fic, which means you’re the first person to read it. Then comes the beta reader — who’ll pick up what you missed and give you their opinion and stuff. After that, depending on what site you want to submit to, there’s the panel — who decide whether or not they’ll accept your fic in terms of quality [the panel doesn't exist on ff.net, obviously, lol] — and finally, there’s the actual reader. Just some trivia, heh.

So, yeah. Basically, that’s what is happening lately. Now I have to go and clean up my room in a half hour, so that I can watch Jem before I leave tonight!

I was planning to do the Henna tattoo today, and I even got the thing started. I put two teaspoons of water and the vial of essential oil into the packet of powder, and I mixed it up and everything…

…And then we went out and when we got home, we realised we didn’t have any lemon juice to use as a sealant. So we’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to actually do the thing. Hope that I haven’t somehow stuffed it up, then.

Apart from that, I went and got out Kill Bill 1 and 2, and I’ll watch those tomorrow. I’m dying my hair red on Sunday [It's a rinse, don't worry, it's not permanant] and so it should be lots of fun, hehe.

I have a really bad headache for some reason, and I was thinking about doing Alan’s quiz, but it’s lame, lol. XD I am not a grape, and I’m not going to do a quiz that implies that I am, haha.

I did, however, start work on the SYF site. I’ll run it by Liam when he gets back. At the moment I’m going grey, simply because everything in SYF — the banners, the pictures of guns, the atmosphere of it all — is grey. I can’t really see any other colour working. I need to think about nav bar positioning and stuff like that. Hopefully, we’ll have lots of fun stuff on there — if I ever actually get around to doing it, heh.

Whoo! Shout outs go to Liam, because he just received his acceptance into QUT, with a Bachelor of Biomedical Science, which will lead him into becoming a doctor, and then into Radiology, which is fantastic. I’m so glad for him, and it’s just amazing. ^_^ Well done, Liam!

Other than that, I came across something I wrote in England. I was bored and hadn’t had a computer in weeks, and the laptop was just sitting there, so I took it and wrote just a short piece, heh. It was lots of fun. ^__^ And spur of the moment. And not revised, lol.

Heather had given up on life. In accordance with this newfound depression, she had discarded her passé optimism and instead adopted a strict regime of nihilism, pessimism, and existentialism. She’d moved all her colourful clothes to the back of her wardrobe, replacing them with artfully ripped jeans and black T-shirts proclaiming messages of doom for all the world to see. Her make-up box now contained only black and grey. She’d taken it upon herself to redecorate her room with blood reds, dark greens, silvers and blacks, and she was considering the possibility of getting a nose-ring.

When Heather’s mother asked her if she’d like cereal or eggs for breakfast, Heather replied sullenly; “What’s the point? They don’t exist anyway.” And, as if suddenly remembering that not only was she nihilist, she was also depressed, she added, “And if they did they’d suck.”

And that’s my excuse for an update. However, if you want to go and see the RPG in the works, check out Alan’s site.

Today’s shout out goes to Alan because he is far too cool for me. And, also, because I am on a quest. Only Alan knows of this sacred and super secret quest, and he is attempting to thwart me. One day, I will do what he wants…just to surprise him and put him off his guard.

I swear, I had to retype that paragraph about four times just then, because my spelling’s gone down the crapper. And it’s happened since I typed the word ‘anime’. Connection? I think so. XD

I went to see the incredibles today. How cool is that movie? I really loved it, I think it’s the kind of movie you can just watch again and again. And it wasn’t just a kids movie, really. Like a lot of movies these days, there were adult references that kids wouldn’t really get. Like the reference to adultery and stuff. Kids wouldn’t get that, and that stuff really added a fun ‘older’ element to it.

I really love the way kids movies these days are more ‘family’ movies. You don’t have to be a kid to enjoy them. Some of the old movies I used to love, like [and I'm almost ashamed to say it] How The West was Fun — with the Olsen Twins — you look back at it and go, “How could I ever have liked that?”. Whereas, now days, you get the feeling that the kids seeing these movies now will come back in ten years and go, “This is such a great movie!”

Other than that, not much is happening. I’m looking at the Nifty Fifty and thinking, but I’m not sure what I’m going to say, or even if I’ll say anything. :/ I’ll have to think about my nominations, heh.

It seems my titling skills have gone way down. Once upon a time, in a diaryland blog far, far away, I was good at titling my posts. They were witty and fun. I shall have to practice, hehe.

Mum finished sewing my bed, and it’s pretty! I slept in it last night and when I woke up, even once I’d gained the requisite “Awake” mentality, I still didn’t want to get up, heh. The mark of a true bed, heh. I think I must have about a thousand pillows. Apart from the four that are in the picture, there’s also a big yellow one, a little yellow orangey one, a blue one and a green one, and some small orange ones, ha. Makes for some padded sleeping.

Tomorrow morning, Mum and I are going to start mixing the henna for my henna tattoo. I’m a little worried that the essential oil may have disolved since I bought the kit, but it should be fine. I hope. I want to put it on my shoulder blade. Henna lasts for two weeks or so, which is why I didn’t put it on when I was in England; it would have still been there when I wore my strapless dress to the wedding.

Aside from that, I’m off work for 9 days. I’m free, free! I even made up my own version of The 12 Days of Christmas to celebrate, haha. It details all of my fortunes lately. XD

[To read it, you have to go to the comments page. I cut the entry in two because it was taking up room, heh.]

On the first day of freedom my fortune gave to me;
3 months of webhosting.

On the fifth day of freedom my fortune gave to me;
Pay from last week!
Movies with my friends,
A new hair cut,
My cool bedspread
and
3 months of webhosting.

Actually, I ran out of stuff after the fifth day. :/ Maybe one day, lol. And admittedly, it doesn’t always flow very well, but it was so much fun that I don’t care.

The setting up of n-e has pretty much overtaken anything else, so now it’s time to play catch up. I haven’t really been doing much; working, sleeping and stuff. But there’s some cool/fun things happening.

My brother was down at the coast for about a week, with his girlfriend and her family. It was really quiet in the house, and I didn’t have to fight in order to get on the computer or anything, which was great. Plus, I didn’t see any tomato sauce for that entire time, which was brilliant. I hate tomato sauce, heh. Call it a quirk. Anyway, he was supposed to come home on Saturday, because he, his girlfriend and her family were all going to go up to Coolum [or however you spell it] to see her grandparents. But on Friday, Michael [Er, my brother, for those who don't know. ^_^] sent Mum a text message saying, Mum, I’m really sick. I’m vomiting and I’m not well can you come and pick me up from the ferry?. The ferry was about an hour and a half to two hours away. So I went to work and finished at twelve, and got changed, then Mum and I went on a road trip! ^_^ We picked Michael up — he looked terrible, heh, and started home.

And this must be where my luck started to change, heh. As we were driving back home, we saw a Target [Pronounced Tar-schay for posers.] around Capalaba. And Target was where my doona/quilt cover was on sale. So we stopped and got lost in the car park, finally finding an entry into the complex. Mum waited in the car with Michael while I went to have a look and see if that bedspread was there. The complex was bigger than the one at home, and I was worried I’d get lost, lol. Finially, I found Target [On the other side of the complex from where we parked, of course!] and went in to have a look. At first I thought they didn’t have it at all, and then, lo and behold, I saw a single. And my reasoning kicked in; where there’s a single, there must be a double. But, while Target at home has the singles, doubles, Queens and Kings on different shelves, this one didn’t. I went searching and found a king…

So I made a snap decision and bought it. Mum’s putting a border on the cover now, so that my doona will fit into the cover. So yay for Target and it’s sales and it’s poorly stocked shelves, without which, I might never have been covered. [And, if anyone can get that obscure reference, I'll give you a prize!]

Then I woke up early on Saturday morning all ready for my haircut. ^_^ I promised before and after photos, so here they are, lol. Um, no one scream and run away, although the before is particularly bad. Are you ready?

So yes. That’s the Before photo. My hair was about 2 feet long there, heh. That’s about the size of an extra extra small dwarf! Depending on when I wash it and how long I keep it up it tends to curl a bit, which is what you see there. But in the next photo, my hair is dead straight, heh. ^_^

When it was cut, Sandy [my hairdresser] cut it, then layered it about an inch down the bottom. Then she shaped it around my face. And, in the process, I got my eyelashes tinted and stuff; it was a Christmas present from Mum. And, um, yeah. Pink isn’t my colour, so don’t mention the shirt. It’s comfortable and I like it. XD

And then, after that, I went to work. And for the past two days, my float checks [where you make sure the money is the same as it says on the registers/sales records] have been great! One was up six cents, which would have been discounts, and the other was perfect. ^_^

On the way home, I got an idea for a story, although I’m not sure if I’ll follow that yet. And I’m about to finish my SYF post, so hopefully that will be posted today.

I think we’re all caught up now.

First and foremost goes a huge thank you to Alan for not only being a super-l337 genius, but also for helping so much. I wouldn’t have managed to get this running without him, and his dead-seraphim site rocks. As soon as I get around to actually doing links, he will be linked and plugged at every chance. Aside from setting up Movable Type for me, he’s also pretty much coded this site, and he’s been a great help. ^_^ Thanks, Alan! [/plug] ^.~

With that hugely-deserved thanks done, welcome to never-established.net! This site has been in the making for a while and now that it’s finally finished, I couldn’t be happier! More stuff will be appearing soon.

Anyway, some quick thanks; To James, for defining ‘Asphy’ and helping with hosting. To Mimmi and Karmi; my colour choreographers. Without you I’d still be struggling between red and green. ^_^” And to everyone else who should be on here but isn’t; thanks!

Will be back later.