Wondering where my tags are?

Along with my icons and my memories, they have gone MIA, and LiveJournal has not been any help in retrieving them.


Thankfully, my old posts are backed up at deird_lj, and the tags there are still intact. (No joy on the memories or icons.)

All new entries are at deird1.

Have fun with that...

This weekend has been extremely busy (but fun).

Friday:
Birthday! dr_carrot gave me flowers (sending my flower count up to 2), and took me out to dinner.
I felt all 30ish and grown up.

Saturday:
Because dr_carrot's birthday was a mere five months ago, and we'd finally been able to schedule free time together, we drove up to Warrnambool for a trail ride.
For foreigners: this is four hours of driving, two hours of riding a horse, and another four hours of driving. Which meant I spent ten hours with my hands in exactly the same position. PAIN.
I have, however, cantered along a beach - thus fulfilling one of my goals in life.

Sunday:
The sisters and I went up to the hills - without nephews! This is the first time we've been together and kidless in about six years.
The hills are lovely and filled with pretty shops and lovely cafes. So we ambled around, occasionally stopping for a cup of tea or a piece of cake.
After all this, we wandered back to Sister 2's house, where all five nephews assembled to excitedly wish me happy birthday and feed me birthday cupcakes. So cute and fun! (Alex was very interested to hear that I am now 30, and declared that I am "almost very old".)

Came back from my day to discover that nimthiriel had bought me flowers - bringing the total flower count up to 3.

Monday:
Recovered. Slowly.

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The boyfriend sent me flowers!!!! Hurrah!!!!!



He is the awesomest person ever. *beams*

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The boyfriend is currently walking across England, so I am feeling rather bereft. *pines*

Hopefully I'll find ways to fill up my evenings...

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The problem with drinking really nice tea is that it ruins all less-nice tea for you forevermore.


I have long ago lost my taste for teabags; tea leaves are where it's at.

Infusers? Nice - but not as good as plunger tea.

And plungers? Well...


I discovered yet more "secrets to the perfect cup of tea", and decided to try them out - sceptical that there could be any way to make tea better than it already was.

WELL. I WAS WRONG ABOUT THAT.

I
1) warmed the teapot beforehand
2) after a couple of minutes, turned the teapot three times clockwise and three times anti-clockwise

And voila: the most perfect cup of tea known to man.


I... really don't think I can go back to plunger tea. Not after this.



Dammit, perfect tea! You're ruining the rest of the good tea for me! *shakes fists*

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I've just joined Hub Melbourne, in the hopes that it will help me kickstart my freelance work.

They provide office space for small businesses, and use lots of networking to all do work for each other. So... possibly this might be the ideal way to find people who desperately need my editing skills for a couple of smaller pieces, no?


And grooviest office ever. Seriously. It's fabulous and funky, and I want to work there right now! It's just so cool!

I'm going to go in next week, and see if I can network my way into getting work. So - I'll basically be spending a day with the internet, crochet, and absolutely no work. But I'm bound to pick some up eventually. (Right? This is how people get more freelancing work, isn't it? Please?)

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My adventures in crochet continue...

1) Finally gave in and joined Ravelry, like all the cool kids.

2) Have done two scarfs, and most of a cushion. Which sounds utterly awesome, until I realise that my entire crocheting accomplishments are basically making rectangles. Very neat and even rectangles, to be sure, but still - rectangles. In my latest rectangles I have started changing colours...

3) I keep seeing patterns that are utterly brilliant and absolutely what I want to do... when I'm fifty times as competent as I am right now.

4) Wool is way too expensive. Had to leave my LYS at a run today, to avoid buying lots of pretty wool that I absolutely don't need yet.

5) Four people have come up to me and said "Oh, wow, what are you knitting?" in the last two weeks. I'm getting rather sick of pointing out that I'm holding a crochet hook and not knitting needles.

6) All those people out there who reckon knitting is way cooler than crochet have no idea what they're talking about. Crochet is not just about the granny squares, yo.

7) Someday soon, I'm going to have to learn granny squares. And I will instantly feel uncool and frumpy, and sit there sheepishly hooking my granny squares and hoping no-one notices. But whatcha gonna do - there's no way I can get good at crochet while still stubbornly ignoring granny squares...

8) When I am awesomely skilled and can make cute animals, I'm going to crochet a sheep. With fluffy wool all fluffing out in every direction. Fluffily.

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My nephews are hilarious in many ways. The latest development is when they're being interrogated on the latest inter-sibling fight. (Inter-sibling? Intra-sibling? Anyone? Bueller?)

You see, they have yet to develop guile - or any ability to lie without it being utterly obvious to anyone over the age of six.

Thus we get conversations like this:

"Why is Josh crying?"
"He wouldn't share! And he got upset!"
"And did you ask him if you could play?"
"Yes! And he wouldn't share!"
"And did you rip the toy away from him?"
"Well..."

Or:

"Alex called me names!"
"Was that because you hit him?"
"Well..."


They're all totally confident, utterly in the right, and then you hit on THE question - the one that sends their whole I'm-totally-in-the-right-here argument crashing to the ground - and you get that "Well...", and from then on Mummy has no problem figuring out who's at fault, and Auntie Maz is utterly thrilled that it's not her job because she's too busy cracking up laughing in the corner and trying not to let her nephews see...

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( really gross observings on blowing my nose under the cut... )

And really - I did warn for grossness. So don't complain; it's your own fault for clicking...

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I gave Alex a Tintin book for his birthday - and hence, read through a Tintin book for the first time in years.

It's... kind of like Nancy Drew.



What I mean is, in ordinary mysteries, the protagonist will discover a set of intriguing and baffling clues, that will slowly lead them to the culprit.

Whereas, in Tintin, what happens is that Tintin finds something purely innocuous. Say... a man has dropped his handkerchief. And Tintin, being a good citizen, picks up the handkerchief and gives it back. Upon which, the man will recognise Tintin, think "Good Lord! Tintin is on my trail!", kidnap him, reveal his part in the evil scheme, and then somehow fail to kill Tintin in his giant death laser.
After this, Tintin will get away from the death laser, get intrigued by this entrancing new mystery, do the smallest of follow-ups - and thus stumble upon the next member of the gang, who will think "Mon Dieu! C'est Tintin!", kidnap him, and reveal a bit more of the evil scheme...

Every. Single. Time. It's uncanny.

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1) I have a cold, which is making me sneezy and disinclined to blog. Hence the lack of updates.

2) My work tends to be either non-existent, or boundless and overflowing. Right now, it's just gone from almost nothing to do, to suddenly having eight really massive and interesting things to get done. Which would be great... if it wasn't right at the end of the week, so I somehow have to cram huge amounts into the next few hours and then hope I still remember everything next Wednesday.

3) Going out to a Croatian restaurant this evening, with some uni friends. Ages since we've been able to catch up, so it'll be nice to see everyone.

4) Alex is about to turn 6. I have been enlisted for his superhero party tomorrow, to take green-screen photos of boys flying through the sky...

5) dr_carrot has now been away for over three weeks, and her cat is missing her dreadfully. He keeps trying to come and snuggle up to me - usually when I'm having a shower, trying to cook something, or on the loo. MOST inconvenient.

6) Scarf number two is finished (except for the tassles) and I'm now trying to crochet a cushion. My life is turning into Nothing But Crochet! right now, but I really have to put in lots of time while I'm still enthusiastic, so that when that dies down I'm skilled enough to still find it all interesting.

7) Winter has taken over (even though it technically isn't here yet), and I am rugging up enormously every morning. It's too cold for me to go outside with wet hair! What on earth is that about?!

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I have acquired spectators.


On the morning commute, there are three options:
a) fall asleep
b) read, knit, etc
c) stare aimlessly at whatever is in your field of vision

Since taking up crochet, I have apparently become the most interesting thing in everyone's field of vision. Every time I look up from my wool, there are three or four people watching me...


It's slightly weird - but I'm getting used to the attention.

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I'm watching season one of Heroes, now that I've managed to forget about season two*, and it's really quite good.

Weird, though - because in the mean time I've watched a whole lot of other stuff. And now Claire's best friend is John Connor, Spock has gone insane and is killing people, Forrest is walking through walls, Lancelot is a painter, one of the Cordettes is working for a mob boss, Kate Bennett has left NYPD and started talking to people through computers, and Hiro's father is George Takei (who might not be a fictional character, but heck, it's George frigging Takei).



* Technically, Heroes only has one season. It's like this whole thing.

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Allow me to exercise my bragging rights.

( nephews )

( crochet )

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A professional blog that may or may not be written by me is here:

The Editing Engineer


Just so you know.

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Apple has just succumbed to the "security question" thing. Which is totally fine.

What is not fine is that, like 90% of the security-question-using world, they are setting the questions for you.


Pre-set question that I'll know the answer too: "What is your mother's maiden name?" That one I could answer in my sleep. Absolutely no problem with that. And I'd also be fine if they'd let me write my own questions. I have several things that I know the answer to that would UTTERLY BAFFLE anyone who isn't me.

But no. They're all intent on having questions like:
- What was your least favourite car?
- Where were you on January 1, 2000?
- What is your favourite song?
- Who was your first school teacher?

...and other things that I can't possibly answer. Seriously - how should I know where I was on a New Years Day 12 years ago? And my favourite song changes approximately once a day.

And yet, somehow, I have to pick a security question... and hope desperately that I'll never have to remember the answer to it.

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The big boss has just moved out of his office, and is now sitting among us plebs. Apparently, he's been sequestered away from us for so long that he's forgotten what it's like out here. Which led to the not-so-big boss sending us a memo:

Big Boss is now sitting in the open office area and has noticed people around him spending a lot of time
1. on the internet
2. chatting loudly about non-related work topics for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours...
3. conducting other business
4. not being in the office*
5. swearing

Please keep an eye out for this and if you see it happening kindly ask those involved to stop.

*I ask that if you are going out of the office for a meeting, lunch, fresh air, smoke, coffee, run, jog, gym or home you edit your status in Sametime.

Which... just...

*facepalm*

1) The person he's noticed on the internet is probably me. Reason being, my manager was away last week and left me with no work. So, in between getting up every half an hour and walking round the building trying to find stuff to do, I checked my flist and email.

2) The people chatting about non-work topics (who are not me) are doing what people in offices do. They're still getting their work done - so what's the issue?

3) Given that the list of approved reasons to leave the office include fresh air, smoking, and coffee, what on earth would be wrong with having a mental break for a few minutes and making a personal phonecall, rather than getting up from your desk, going elsewhere, and making exactly the same personal phonecall? (Also not something I've done this week - but the people I've seen doing so have been calling people who won't be available outside of working hours. And no-one's ever had a problem with this before.)

4) "Sametime" is the office IM system. I don't use it, because having IMs (never anything important - usually just "Hey!") interrupt me actually distracts me from my work. I'm not going to log in purely so I can leave a message letting people know I won't be available to IM until I... get back to my desk and turn IM off so I can work.

5) Swearing? Seriously?
From what I've heard, the people around here are swearing, on average, to about the same extent that I do right here on my blog. THAT'S NOT MUCH.


I really wish high-up executives would calm down and get used to the real world.

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This is a remix of …Than Meets The Eye by aadler.

Title: Sunnydale Stakeout (the Girl Guide remix)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2860

Summary: Sheila might be a vampire. But that doesn't mean she can't help out.

( doing good, or whatever )

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Over the last three days I have seen:

- Ruddigore (Gilbert & Sullivan), with vass. She was my first internet meeting, and was very nice.
Not my favourite G&S, but it was performed very well. The man playing Despard was wonderful.

- The Avengers! Extremely Avengery - and Joss clearly had a lot of fun with Iron Man's dialogue.

- Episode four of ALoK. In which Korra wears formal clothing, and looks gorgeous.
I am yet to decide whether my favourite character is Tenzin or Bolin. (But then, last week it was Mako - so it's possible I'm just indecisive and Naga will be my favourite by the next episode...)


Yay for new things to watch!

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dr_carrot is visiting America for the first time, and has many observations, for those who are interested...

I do find it funny that, when going to a foreign country, you expect all the big things - but get totally taken aback by all the little things that never occurred to you could be different. Because... they're done the way we do them. Why would anyone do them differently?

Hence my impression of Germany has very little to do with Matters Of International Importance, and a lot to do with the toilets and the way they close their windows.

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