Day 24

I wanted to write something fantastic that would keep up your daily Lucy-quota, but truth be told, I'm way too tired. My brain feels frazzled, and my head just wants its pillow back. It was pissed enough this morning when I had to seperate the two of them, even after a generous sleep in. 

But yeah. Full on day.

Tomorrow is not going to be so full on, and I shall answer MORE questions, and deliver MORE classic Lucy, so you all have something to look forward to. 

I want to type more but my brain is objecting. 

Sorry guys.

More tomorrow

Day 23

Is just a touch late...

I said yesterday that this entry would be answering more questions. 

Today's first question comes from Beth:

What's a common misconception people have about Australia that drives you crazy?

Thank you, Beth. I'm glad you asked.

This could be another long one, folks*

There are many misconceptions that drive me crazy. Some are founded on truths or half-truths, others merely on rumours or assumptions which slowly turn into fact as they are slowly accepted into a society's way of thinking. Here is my shortlist:

-That everyone here knows/talks/acts/lives like the Irwins/Mick Dundee

Wrong. We don't all know all the celebrities who stereotype our nation's character, although, in Steve Irwin's case, that was just plainly me not being interested in visiting Australia Zoo. I only live just over an hour and a half away. It wouldn't have been an expensive, time-comsuming exercise. It's just, when the big guy was still with us, it was kinda tacky. Plus I was about 16 at the time, so going to the zoo was a bit naff. But in general, they're famous. They don't know everyone in the counrty, as that's pretty much impossible. So if you asked me if I knew them, I'd most likely have to say NO***. As far as embodying the stereotypes, the Irwins act like the Irwins. Paul Hogan acts like Mick Dundee. The rest of us act like normal people. If you want a pop culture reference to see how us Aussies live, try the classic movie: The Castle, or better yet, check out Natalie aka CommunityChannel on YouTube. Also, most of us do not speak in either the enthusiastic accent or the the broad, lazy drawl that goes hand in hand with the croc hunter/outback stereotype. We instead choose to speak like NORMAL people, because that's what we ARE.

-That our diet consists entirely of a cold beer and a shrimp on the barbie'

Wrong again. Most of us know how to eat a perfectly balanced diet that includes neither of these in compulsory daily consumption. Also, I'd like to point out here that no one in their right mind eats shrimp cooked on a barbeque. We eat charred sausages and steak, because those meats are cheap, and somehow are still edible even WITH a carbon coating. Seafood, however, is much more expensive. You don't contaminate expensive delicacies like shrimp by charring them on the hotplate of a gas-powered barbeque. It's like buying something specifically to ruin it. It's pointless, and wasteful, and believe it or not, us Aussies actually have a little bit more common sense than that. 

-That all Aussies live in the Outback, and are either Bushies, Drovers or Battlers.

Come on. That one's more than a century out of date. There's plenty of evidence to contradict this too, for example, the fact that about 99.9% of us live on the coast line; NOT in the outback. Also, I have internet access, as do many other Australians. If I lived in the outback, and was a Battler, that kind of implies not having the means to access the internet. None of you would know me, and I wouldn't know you. I may not even know my next door neighbours, because their property and my own would seperate the houses by at least 3km**. I'd look after the house and raise the kids single handedly, because Daddy is out droving cattle or shearing sheep.

Puh-lease. 

-That all Aussies must be great swimmers...

Because that's all we ever win at the Olympics, isn't it? Well, that and Diving***. Water-related sports in general. And, I will have to say, yes, that is all we seem to excell at consistently on the world stage. We scored a few extras nine years ago in Sydney, but home ground advantage played a HUGE roll in that one, as it does in every international sporting competition. We have swimmers in the finals of nearly every race in the swimming, but as far as Gymnastics, Athletics, Bicycling, team sports and ANYTHING to do with the Winter Olympics goes, we're practically non-existent. So we like the water. Maybe so for the few who reach international level, but NOT ALL OF US ARE AMAZINGLY FISHLIKE IN THE POOL. I like swimming, and can perform a basic stroke, but after a single lap, I feel almost as if drowning might have been an easier way to go. So yes, Australia (or more specifically, Queensland) breeds swimmers, but I was definitely not blessed in that area. Are all americans capable of swimming as fast as Michael Phelps? No. Same goes for us.

I think that's about all the misconceptions I can think of for now. The big ones, anyway. Not that you all think these things. I trust that you are all intelligent enough to know that none of these are true without me needing to clarify, but sometimes, I feel it needs to be said. This urge often arises at moments like when I hear an american actor attempting to speak in an Australian accent ~cringe~, or when I hear the phrase "throw another shrimp on the barbie". Damn 80's tourism campaign. I much prefer "So where the bloody hell are ya?". Much less detrimental to our reputation (ironically). 

It's way past my bedtime, so I'm going to leave it there. Hope you all have a wonderful day. I'm on a long weekend now, since my saturday shift was cancelled on account of ANZAC Day. Apparently everything is closed, and my eyes will be, too. First saturday morning sleep in in, like forever, HERE I COME!! Also expected: long long blog entries, and more ANSWERS!! YAY!

Ok, that's my cue to leave. Will read blogs SOOON (I feel kinda bad that i haven't read most of your BEDA stuff yet, but FEAR NOT. The long weekend is about to begin!)

GOOD NIGHT AND DON'T FORGET TO BE ZZZZzzzzzzz......

*but, no promises. This post is already late :S

**that's about 2.2 miles, for those of you still using the Imperial system... geez, get with the times. Metric is what it's all about these days. 

***Speaking of diving and knowing famous people, there is one that I CAN say I know. Matt Mitchum, the 10m Platform champion in Beijing went to my highschool, and was in my sister's grade. He was amazingy smart, but a complete rebel. So naturally, he and my sister and their friends hung out a lot. He came round to our place so much at one point that it became acceptable for him to enter through the back door, and he started addressing my mother as 'mum'. He also once gave my sister a lovebite. Not an actual genuine one, but an I'm-being-silly-at-school-and-feel-like-getting-you-into-trouble kind of one. They also cut each other's hair, and hung out in the city. You know that 'break from training' he said he went on? He clubbed. A lot. True story. I'd get you guys an autograph from him too, except that I haven't seen him since way before Beijing. But you can check, if you don't believe me. He's my friend on Facebook. :P

Day 22 - (Some of) Your questions answered

I have only an hour and fifteen minutes (approximately) to type and publish this entry... But first, to choose a QUESTION to answer in Blog form...

Thank you all for leaving your questions for me, I promise I will answer them all by the end of this month. Now THAT is a promise I can keep. :)

I'm going to try and do these answers as systematically and fairly as I can... That is, since some of you asked multiple questions, I'm going to answer one or two of these questions before moving along to the next person. I think that will be the most efficient way of keeping everyone happy. I will say now, keep the questions coming... I'm likely to continue this whole Blogging Every Day thing well into May.*

So, today's question comes from Sean/@livin4hymn:

PC or Mac?

I decided to answer this one first, because it seemed like the most straight-forward, and, well, it was the first one he asked, so I guess that's fair enough.

My response to this is: I use PC, but I much prefer Mac. I'm pretty much stuck with PC, but if I had the choice/the money, I'd definitely opt for the Mac. In fact, even though I'm yet to purchase a Mac** I'm a bit of a MacFangirl. I never owned an MP3player, only an iPod Mini (that's right... I had a Mini, NOT a nano. It lasted me a good 3 years too), and my current phone is the almighty iPhone. Also, I'm considering going back to uni next year to study Graphic Design, and as far as I am aware, the graphic design industry standard is Mac, so getting used to using one as early as possible will be preferable. 

Wow... I guess, in my eternal optimism, I was hoping to stretch that answer out a little further. This doesn't feel long enough yet... ON TO THE NEXT QUESTION!!

This one was from Frances, in reference to the mention of my ex best friend's mum having the same birthday as me. 

'Why "ex best friend's mum"? Did you fall out, or did they move away, perhaps?'

To answer this question effectively, I'm going to tell you a little*** story, so gather round children and listen up close:

My friend and I were friends for about 4 years in High school****. I met her in Grade 8 in our string ensemble, and we were really close by the start of Grade 9. From that point, we considered each other to be best friends. She was fun to hang around, full of random quirkyness that always made me lol quite literally. After a little while, she started to get depressed. I won't disclose what this was about, but she started being really emotional about a lot of things. It's still anyone's guess as to whether this was actual depression, or a desperate attempt at attention seeking. Anyway, I felt as her best friend, it was (at least partially) my responsibility to cheer her up. Also, throughout grade 10, she found other people to be friends with. They never really overtook me in the 'best friend' position, but sometimes she liked to talk to them and do stuff with them more than with me. In hindsite, I can see that my desperation to have a best friend (i'd never really had one before) may have resulted in some serious clingyness on my part, which would have made me seem really annoying. Anyway, I retained my seat, and kind of felt like I had to prove I deserved it, or something... actually, I'm not sure if that was behind it, but for SOME reason, I morphed into her puppet. I did everything she told me to do, because I needed her friendship. I became her underdog. This was fine for me while I was a whimpy little sheep (which many nerds tend to be as teens... this is often well before they learn to embrace their inner nerd) but as I started to mature, and develop my own, independant opinion, I found that she became more and more irritated with me. She had shown some signs of irritation whilst I was still in the sheep phase, which I figured was a given, but when I started to emerge from under her wing, she didn't drop the asides... in fact, they increased. I finally got to the point where I got sick of doing everything to please her, and started to do things that made me happier. This just seemed to make her angry. So she hated my clinginess, but she also hated my independance. This created a lot of tension between us. At one point, on a camp towards the end of Grade 11, my brother***** (whom she had been dating) dumped her, because she was being too clingy and depressed, and he was at his wits end. So, I spent the better half of that camp comforting her and offering an ear and a shoulder. Despite my dedication to our friendship at that point, the tension continued to build between us. There was lack of respect, jealousy, turbulent emotions, you name it. Everything known to mess up friendships was sitting in a massive blender, whirring around, inflicting its damage. The next camp (music camp, early Grade 12), everything spilled over, and (ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom) we had a falling out. This was really tough on me, because as Queen Bee, she managed to pursuade most of our group of friends to side against me******. Then, in my emotional turmoil of having been abandoned and told 'I hope you die' by the one person who I had considered to be my very best friend*******, I turned to my trusty MSN Space (hey, at the time, THAT was where it was at. EVERYONE had a space) and let loose. I ended up losing a few more friends that way, but again, in hindsite, wisdom and maturity has shown me that these people weren't really my friends anyway. This controversy between us brought all the truth bubbling to the surface, not just in us, but in the people spectating, and those caught in the middle. The rest of the year was like treading on eggshells. At the Formal******** which I attended with my boyfriend at the time, while every other girl was complimenting me on my dress, the only thing she had to say to me was that my sister had missed a few strands of hair when she ran the die through the night before. Throughout the rest of the year, we just drifted further and further apart. We congratulated eachother on speech night for our respective awards, and I attended (with a group of friends) her graduation party. Since then I've really only seen her a few times. Once, in the year after High School, we met up in the city, and I told her I was sorry for my contribution to our falling out. I never got her reply, but I don't think I need it any more. The next time was at My 18th party, which I invited her to out of politeness. She ended up trying to pair me up with one of my best friends from church. Needless to say, he was not impressed. Neither was I. The next time I saw her was at her 18th, about a month later. A very different environment this time, this was the group of friends who I had left behind after the Falling Out. They were all intent of drinking themselves blind, and I was not. I was not alone in this boat, and so a few of us left the party for about half an hour and got Hungry Jacks; not so much because we were hungry, but because it was infinitely less boring. Anyway, since then, I've seen her maybe once or twice in passing. She's still exactly the same. I haven't noticed any significant changes since High School. I look at myself now, and see huge changes. I've never had a best friend since, but I kind of don't feel the need for one. I still have friends. Different ones to High School, but friends all the same. I have a strong opinion about a great many things. I have learned to embrace who I am, and to resist the pressure to change me to suit other people. And I've learned that being unpopular is actually more fun. So, was it a positive experience? Not really, no. I wouldn't say that. But was it worth it? Yeah, I'd say so. I'd like to say that if I had to do it again, I'd do it the same, but I don't think I would. If I had the priviledge of keeping the wisdom gained through this experience when I warped back in time to repeat the shaping years of my life, I would do the whole thing SO MUCH BETTER. I would have fun, not sweat the small stuff, foster friendships with better people and embrace my nerdiness. 

OOOOk, I SWEAR that is all I have to say. MAN it feels good to get it out. 

I hope that wasn't too many asterisk points for you. I'll try not to do a repeat performance. 

And it is now 12:30am, and I was supposed to post this a little sooner, but I really don't care. I mean, wasn't it worth the wait?

Don't forget to keep the questions coming, and DON'T FORGET TO BE AWESOME!!!!

<3

*1) because getting back into the swing of things makes me want to stay in the swing of things and 2) because I still feel guilty for missing so many days of what could be the largest collaborative blogging project the internet has ever seen... and to think this is going to grow more and more each year. I have no basis for this claim, other than I have no evidence against it. After all, it could still be true... I just don't know for sure. 

** It's one of my goals this year to save up and buy a Macbook... I'm putting all of my KRudd money towards it. I have a friend who owns the new MacBook, the one that's all environmentally friendly... that's the one I want. 

***What I mean by little, of course, is an epic tale to rival the Lord Of The Rings trilogy...INCLUDING the Hobbit.

**** High school in Australia, or at least Queensland, goes from Grade 8 to Grade 12, so this friendship lasted a good 80% portion of this period in my life. Primary runs from Prep (which used to be preschool) to Grade 7, and we don't have a Middle School.

*****yes, my twin brother. The very same.

****** Even after publicly stating that she didn't want to split the group. I know now that this was her-speak for 'I don't want anyone to side with YOU' 

*******Just to rub some salt into that wound, the night before she made THAT statement, she wanted to know who I had a crush on. I was hesitant to tell her, and she pursuaded me with the classic "You can tell me anything... we're best friends". I promise you, every word of it is true.

********That's our version of the Prom... Our school only gives one a year, and only for Seniors. Usually (but not always) they are a closed event, so only enrolled students may attend.

Day 21

So I'm gonna make this one relatively short, because I'm going out in about an hour, so... here I go!

On my ning page, I recieved a comment from Bethsavoy on my Day 19 post, asking me several questions which all provoke pretty lengthy answers. Question 4 and 6 were fairly straight-forward though, to which the short answers are: 4: yes and 6: 7th of may, '89. This year is my 20th.

But, in my own true blogging style, I will not be leaving you solely with these short answers. Like always, I will draw out my responses and throw in the odd anecdote here and there. I will also stop being lazy and actually include the questions, so you don't all get that horrible feeling of being out-of-the-loop brought on by having no idea what I am talking about. FEAR NOT, dear readers, I will not leave you uninformed.

And without FURTHER ado, here are questions 4 and 6, and their respective answers.

4. Will you be my BEDA buddy even though I have a group? haha.

A. Yes. Yes I will. There is always... I mean ALWAYS, more room for BEDA buddies in our group. I don't mind in the slightest that you already have a group, as the whole idea of having BEDA buddies was to be in a group of people who read your blog, and whose blogs you read, to throw encouragement back and forth, and stimulate the inner literate inside you all. Through this process, you not only hold each other accountable for this BEDA challenge, but you make friends along the way... which, when taking all this into account, I guess you already ARE in our BEDAbuddies group! Ok, so we haven't recieved MJ's blessing on this one (just yet), but I'd say it's still pretty real. 

Also, I might mention here that anyone else who wishes to join our BEDA group is most welcome. Even if you haven't taken part in BEDA (yet) there is still another 10 days (including today) left in April to blog. Blogging for 10 days straight is still an impressive achievement. 

6. When is your birthday?

A) My Birthday is on the 7th of May, I was born in 1989, making this my 20th year. Make no mistake, though, this date does not make me unique by any means. It is a date that I share with my twin brother, my cousin (who turned 1 on the day my brother and I were born), my ex-best friend's mum* among countless other people. 

I realise that with 6 billion people in the world, and only 365 days to share between us, I'm probably not the only one out there who knows other people with the same birthday. I'm just sayin', is all. 

I think this post is about done... I mean, for a relatively short post, it is kinda long already. Hop this tides you guys over till my next one...

CYA SOOOOOOOON!!

PS. feel free to leave any more questions you have for me. I promise to answer ALL of them :). 

PPS. Also, when is everyone else's birthday? Leave me a comment (at your own discression, of course :P.)

* and now you're all thinking "ok, why on earth would you remember something like that?" to which I have 2 answers. 1. she wrote my brother and I a birthday card which had 4 lines written, or more accurately, the same line written 4 times: "happy Birthday to us". Write it once, and it's a statement, write it twice, and it's a serenade. And 2. I'm just weird like that 

Day 20

Ok, I swear I had a topic for todays blog post. I had it this morning when I was walking to the bus stop to get to work... but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I suppose I'll have to stick with the good ol'

 backup topic. The classic "Today, I..." thing. Although copying other people's blogging styles isn't really my thing (this is Alan/FallOfAutumnDistro's usual style) so I'm going to keep it Generic. Here is my day in Blog Form. Enjoy!

I woke up roughly at about a quarter to eight, and ate some breakfast, showered, ironed my work uniform, dressed, and hurried off to the bus. It was at this point that I had my Brilliant Idea for today's blog post. This Brilliant Idea was promptly forgotten when I realised that in my haste, I had left 

my Iphone on charge in my bedroom. Too late to go back and get it, so I just forgot about it and went without for the day. As it happened, I would have had plenty of time to double back and fetch the phone, as the bus was a good ten minutes late. Typical, for our transport system. I didn't want to take the risk though, because it's quite inconsistent. One day it will be two or three minutes ahead, the next, ten minutes behind. VERY RARELY will it arrive at the timetabled time. It came eventually, though, and I did make it to work on time. I was forced to complete my make-up application on the bus. I can tell you this; applying mascara to your eyelashes without smearing it all over your face or poking yourself in the eye, while the bus is moving is nothing less than an art. Like, it should be an olympic sport or something. I mean, some people can't even manage that much without the added complication of a moving bus thrown into the mix. I feel kinda special. 

WHOA

... I just wrote that much on only the first 2 HOURS of my day... and there's still another TEN HOURS to write about...

I will skip over the next few hours, as work itself wasn't terribly interesting. Nothing out of the ordinary there. So I started at 9:30 and went on lunch at 1:15-ish. There is a new place in the food court near my workplace that has just opened that makes Mexican food. Tacos, Burritos, Quesadillas, Nachos... you name it (their chips are called 'mexicrinkles'. 'nuff said). It is actually quite exciting for me because 1) we don't have Taco Bell here, or any other taco-vending restaurants for that matter. This is the first one of its kind in our area, so eating Tacos for luch is 

something of a novelty at the moment; and 2) my sister managed to snag herself a job there part-time. Unfortunately for me, this does NOT mean free food. *sadface*. Not that I mind. I eat there anyway. 

Ok, fast fwd another few hours, and I am finished work. I make my way up to woolworths without really thinking about it, and before I know it, I'm buying a 1kg tub of yoghurt and a Kinder Surprise. I don't really know what came over me, but that was the choice I made. The only thing I can boil it down to is that for Easter, I had a Kinder Surprise (among other treats) and I haven't had one in years. I wanted a chocolate hit, but not a big one, and I remembered the joy of finding a randomly selected toy encased in a small plastic egg (why yes, I am still 3 years old in my head) and my subconscious automatically veered towards it. As luck would have it, my 

particular trinket was a green monkey that wore a mushroom on his head, and could be used as a crayon. Now I think of it, what are the odds that BOTH my easter KS and this one were green...? Hmmm, what to make of that....

Ok, yes, alright, enough rambling. Not much more happened between then and right now, except that I got home, helped to prepare dinner, and OH YES. I reached my thousanth tweet. Here it is (or... was...?) :

Other News In My Life includes: My sister is moving out. This Saturday, presumably. I have a feeling this will be a very good thing. She's currently living in the room that used to be our study/computer room. So, when she leaves, we can move all the computers and all of Dad's office stuff back into the computer room and regain the lost half of our rumpus/entertainment room. This will be exciting. Definitely something to look forward to. :D. Now, I may eventually miss having her around, but for now I think that this is the very best option for everybody. I'm happy for her. 

AAAAND that's about all the time I got for blog-writing. Time to publish this, go help with dinner clean-up and then, I shall read EVERYONE ELSE'S blogs. I figure it's about time for a good catchup. 

Until tomorrow. DFTBA

<3

BYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYE

Day 19...again

My last entry was posted just after midnight here, so it was officially Day 19, but i have to post again before I sleep, so I'm posting now, still officially Day 19 since it's not yet past midnight. 

I have work tomorrow at 9:30, so i want to get to bed soon. I had a few blogging topics i wanted to cover first though. Ok. let's see how i go remembering them all.

Number 1) Drip Drip Drop Little April Showers (inspired by Kiera - go read and follow her, she's awesome!)

(rant)

In kiera's blog, she mentioned that it was the rain that inspired her to commence BEDA, halfway through the month. Then she mentioned bursting into that song from Bambi, and it reminded me of how much I love that old movie. But that's not what this segment is really about. Oh no. The topic of April Showers in this instance covers something much more, well, topical. Early this month, South-East QLD (where I live) and North-East NSW (where I DON'T live) were assaulted by rainy weather like we haven't seen in a long time. We had a full day of constant rain. Not start-stop-start rain, CONSTANT rain. Bad, because rain is disruptive to our way of life, and it's rarity means it was difficult to adjust. Good, because our damns are higher than they've been in YEARS. I heard these rains (which gave us DOUBLE our annual rainfall quota for april in the space of 2 days) have filled our dams to over 55%. Last time they were over 50% was 2003, so this is quite remarkable. We may, thanks to these rains (at least in the south east corner) be coming towards the end of the drought. If rains like these continue to pepper our weather patterns, the dams reach 80%, we can relax the current water restrictions (currently 170L per person per day) and start to use hoses and sprinklers again. Life might ACTUALLY return to normal. :D

(/rant)*

Number 2) Punctuation. Also inspired by Kiera. 

Now, punctuation afficionados will have noticed (and found completely irritating, no doubt) my blatant disregard for Proper Punctuation on my blog. Things like not capitalising my "i's" or putting commas in the wrond place, or omitting them altogether. Not right now, of course. Talking about it has made me conscious of it, so I'm making an effort, but you need look no further than the last paragraph to notice this deficiency.  Kiera, and readers of Kiera's blog will have noticed that on HER post about punctuation, I pretty much claimed to be a punctuation Nazi... and, well, I am. It's just that I see this blog to be my little outlet, my space to just let my hair down a bit. If that means getting a little lazy about punctuation, then hey, so be it. Not so much that all intended inflections are lost, but just enough to not be 100% grammatically correct. I'm pretty sure it's allowed on the internet, right? Seeing as the internet is the birthplace of lolcats and their broken english subtitles. In that context, it's funny. In fact, as far as I am aware, the internet is the birthplace not only of incorrect grammar, but also the general acceptance of incorrect grammar. I heard once that a school in Scottland was now accepting assignments and papers in shorthand**. It has also been said*** that the English language is undergoing its most significant transformation ever in this, the 21st century, again thanks to the internet. 

Ok, before you guys all jump down my throat for saying this after claiming to be Madame Grammer Nazi, I just want you all to know, I don't necessarily support extreme mutilation of our language. I like that I can relax my language a little here, but I'm not all for the blatant vandalisation of it. I'll admit to using lol and rofl and <3>

And now it is too late for me to continue blogging, and also i have run out of topics to plagiarise. (ok, I googled the spelling on this one, and it was pretty divided... but you know what I mean, don't you?) (dictionary.com says I'm right, so I guess that's close enough) (btw, I don't use the American spelling... obviously because I'm not American)

And that's all from me for now. You all (or, dare I say it, Y'all) have a good Day/Night/whatever it is for you know, and I'll be back again tomorrow for another glorious update.

<3

*see how i did that? i made it look like i'm actually familiar with html by putting that little (rant) (/rant) thing at wither end of that rant to make it sound like i'm really smart with computers. But i guess it didn't really work, huh? since my attempt at looking geekily smart was just spoiled by the fact that my blog looks so generic. Kinda gives away my lack of html knowledge right there... but at least i tried, right?...right? oh, never mind.

** this is just hearsay... I neither have nor know of any substantial basis for this claim... I just heard it once...

***don't ask me who by, though. Again more hearsay.

Day 19

Ok, so I know (and so do you all, presumably) that I have EPICALLY FAILED at BEDA. I'm going to take a leaf out of MJ's book*, and not pretend I haven't. I will not hide my shame. What I will do, instead of making empty promises to you, my valued readers, that I know I will never keep, is Actually Make Myself Try**. 

I signed up to do BEDA, because I thought it would be no problem. I'm generally pretty committed to posting regularly, so this didn't seem like too much of a stretch. What I didn't wager on was the possibility of discovering something, known as Real Life***. I'm not sure how many of you are aware of this unusual sensation, but discovering it was like discovering a new website, except it was like I was IN the experience, instead of just sitting infront of it. It was somehow more... REAL, or something... 

Whilst this new found experience was fun for a while, I found I have come to miss my online friends. Not being able to read blog posts as soon as they're posted, watching YouTube for hours, tweeting like a madman****... It was a way of life for me. A way of life that has been disrupted, as luck would have it... Our entire broadband allowance for the month chewed up in ten days flat (never happened before...) has left us with dial-up speed net, and i'm not allowed to touch YouTube until 1) the month resets, or 2) we change internet providers to something that will give us a bit more room to move...

Ok, I've actually forgotten where I was going with this post...

Right. Back on track.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, for multiple afformentioned reasons, i've been unable/unwilling to blog. In other words, I'm excusing myself for my laziness. We all know very well that it only takes a little bit of trying to get it done, and excusing myself won't make up for me not trying. So, from now on, you're going to see me AMMT. 

I have to make myself do this. I promised me. I promised you. I promised everybody. And I feel like I let you guys down. I don't wanna do that again. Also, AMMT now will be good practice, for November, when I will have to AMMT. For those of you who don't know, I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month***** this November. 50 000 words in 30 days. This will mean good hard slog. But I'll be prepared. I've even already got a blog set up specifically for it here. I will be posting my draft chapter by chapter******.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say. Tune in again tomorrow to see me AMMT. 

Also, I'm going to take the road well travelled, and ask YOU guys to ask ME questions. Then I can answer them for you in blog form. ASK ME ANYTHING!!!

And this is where i bid you farewell, dear friends. For it is off to dreamland I must travel, but fear not. I shall return come morning light (I mean, when it gets here... to me... in Australia...)*******

K. G'night. :P

*or blog, in this case... see day 10 of MJ's ning :P

** or, AMMT. You should try it some time.

*** Apparently it's really popular among offline folks... who'd a thunk?

**** or madwoman, in this instance.

***** or NaNoWriMo, as it is more affectionately known. :P

****** chapters may or may not be posted during the month of November... stay tuned...

******* Oh just shut up, Lucy. You need sleep. Go. Now.

Day 14 Part 1

I'm only posting this now in a vain attempt to take my mine of the throbbing pain in my mouth. Before you ask, no, I did not get my foot stuck. I did, however, experience another run in with Mr Dentist Man. Oh, excuse me, I meant Dr Dentist Man. This time I am 2 fillings up and one tooth down as a result.

But I'm not going to make the same mistake I made last time I visited the dentist and blog a detailed play by play that paints such a graphic picture in your mind of my experience that you need ongoing therapy for the next 6 months. Instead, I'm going to talk about just how awesome Pokemon is.

I was obsessed with Pokemon. In every sense. The gameboy games, the TV show, the trading cards, I loved it all. I even used to spend time drawing (read: copying, but not tracing. I was above tracing) pictures of them. I even went through a phase where I would make up my own pokemon... but I wasn't very original. I just took parts of a whole heap of different pokemon and mixed them all together into a tangled mess.

So you can see just by looking at these stunning examples just how obsessed I was. Also says a lot about my drawing/copying skills at age 11, but we're not going there...

Anyway, it wasn't until about a week ago that I realised that I had forgotten about this obsession, buried deep in my childhood. I saw three videos sitting on one of our shelves, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd movies, and decided to find out if a fourth movie existed. As it turns out, a fourth movie does exist. In fact, a tenth movie exists. I kind of got a little overwhelmed with this extreme feeling of being out of the loop, and promptly purchased the 4th movie on DVD from eBay. GOD I love that site. So, on Good Friday, I ended up watching the movie twice. The first time I was by myself, as the family had gone out to see an Easter Pageant during the day, and I was pretty much on my own. The second time, I just HAD to show it to my sister. It was beyond adorable. Even if it did lack a consistent plot line.

Currently, I am waiting on the fifth movie in the mail, and realise I have a HECK of a lot of catching up to do, as I haven't watched the show since its first season, and it is currently in its tenth season (presumably... there are 9 boxed sets on DVD and it doesn't seem to have stopped). I am so getting them all. I know. I am such a kid. And a nerd. And a money-wasterer. And I should be saving for a car. But. I honestly feel that this will be worth it in the long run.

I also got out my old GameBoy Color (remember those? I got mine in 2000... I can't believe they're classed as 'retro' now...) and reacquainted myself with the Red and Silver versions of the game. I wrote out a comprehensive list of all the pokemon missing from my pokedexs, and the best ways of going about getting them. Like I said. Nerd. Yeah.

Ok, I'm going to stop there, since typing about childhood obsessions is no longer proving an effective distraction from the pain and the blood in my mouth. Oops... too much information?

<3

Day 13, or something

So, since I am too lazy right now to repost the post i just posted on Maureen Johnson's Ning, you can find it here. 

I made many promises which i intend to but probably won't keep. I'm such a bad blogger right now. 

In other news, it's Easter Monday, and since it's been rainy all day, I've spent all my time inside rewatching the 4 Pokemon Movies that we own on VHS/DVD (that's right...VHS...I'm just that oldskool) and now my sister and I are spending the night training/evolving/trading pokemon between our various versions of the game to boost each others pokedexs. 

Also, (here comes the big news... in case you missed it) MY LAPTOP IS FIXED!!! I gave it to my sister about a week and a half ago, and she gave it to her techie boyfriend, who (after procrastinating for about a week) ended up fixing the problem in about 10 minutes flat. Now, i'm kind of urgently saving money for a mac simply out of fear, but it is so good to have it back again. 

So... that's news for now. And now's time to sleep. Hope you all had a fantastic Easter. Double posting (as promised for BEDA to make up for this whole debacle) shall commence tomorrow.

Good night(/afternoon/morning...whatever)

:P

BEDA Day 3 - Australian and Foreign Slang

So I was catching up on tweets this morning, when I found one from @johnnydurham which started with the word "crikey". As you probably know, this single word is the famous catchphrase of the late Steve Irwin, and before him, Paul Hogan as Crocodile Dundee. Both Aussie icons. So one would conclude that "crikey" is indeed Australian Slang... which is why it was funny to see it being used by @johnnydurham who is indeed British (for those uninformed) (ha, i used indeed twice in the same sentence :P)

There was also another instance a while ago where twitter friend @livin4hymn (aka Sean) shortened "goodnight" to "g'night" for his final tweet of the night... and @OSUBrit (Dave) pointed out that this word compression in fact belongs to Aussies as well (I really wasn't too sure about this - I know "g'day" is ours, but not too sure about "g'night"... but for these purposes, we'll say it is, k?).

Both of these instances made me think about borrowing slang from another country. Is it ok by you guys if I say "blimey" or "y'all"? Do you mind if I borrow your slang? Because I do, all the time. :P. Also, it's totally ok by me if you want to borrow our slang.

Also, IMO, Aussie slang has to be the most unique of them all. At least, it's the one that makes me laugh the most. For example, at the end of the workday, when we say "well, I'm off" we usually follow it up with one of these elaborations: "I'm off like a frog in a sock" or "I'm off like a bucket of prawns in the sun". Seriously, Aussie slang just makes the English language that much more fun.

Please leave a comment: What's your favourite slang word/phrase, either native or foreign? (please keep it clean :| ) The wonderful thing about the internet is that we can all experience a little bit of each other's cultures without even leaving our homes. Also, I don't mind if you want to leave 2, 3, 10, 20, 100 comments. PLEASE DO! I'll love you forever!

BEDA DAY 3 = SORTED!!! :)

See ya TOMORROOOOW

BEDA Day 2... BUT WHERE IS DAY 1???

So it turns out my iPhone application played an April fools joke on me and decided not to post my last minute blog for the first day of BEDA*. I'm going to make a profile for myself on the ning, and link it to this, and this to that (i hope that didn't sound too confusing.... :S)

So, um, yesterday was the first day of April. And consequently April fools day... and also the first day of the inaugural BEDA, which might possibly become an annual online event. No pranks yesterday, to my utter relief. April 1 is also, as I only remembered at about 10pm last night, my dog Bailey's 2nd birthday. So supposedly now she has entered doggy adultdom. She still acts like a puppy though. I don't think she'll grow out of it too soon either.

Here's a picture of her in her far-less-annoying sleeping state.

So yeah. Today is the second day of April. And I've committed to this blogging every day thing, now. So, I guess that means i'll have to blog every day. For a month. BUT WHAT WILL I BLOG ABOUT????? I still don't know. Have a few ideas, but still don't know. Will commence coherency in blog form TOMORROW.

...Promise... :)

So... There you go. It's short, but it's a blog. Can't wait to read all your blogs too.

*Blog Every Day in April.