Christmas is over, ring in 2007 (eek)

Ok Seriously? Why do I keep getting Jane Bennet when I am doing Jane Austen Quizzes?

Which Pride and Prejudice Character Are You?

You are Jane Bennett. You are beautiful, good, kind, and loving. You take care of everything, love everything, and everybody loves you. You think the best of everyone until it is too late and then still believe that they have redeaming qualities. On the one hand, you are wonderful. On the other hand, get your head out of the clouds, woman!!
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Not that there is anything wrong with Jane, she is a lovely person, that might actually be the reason, she is too nice. She always sees the best in others, never the bad, I am not sure that I really am that nice. This is not the first time I have done a quiz and come out with Jane Bennet, I might just have to accept that I am, could be worse of course, I could have been told I was Lady Catherine, or Mr Collins now that would have been embarrassing.

Well I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve Eve, I had brunch with Hayley, then I went home, put on It's a Wonderful Life and wrapped my Christmas presents. I just have to watch that movie sometime close to Christmas, it is perfect for helping me get in the Christmas spirit.

On Christmas Eve I went to church in the morning (since it was Sunday), then my brothers ex-girlfriend bought my littlest nephew round for lunch. We had lunch and opened presents, it was pretty nice. After she had left mum and I got ready and then left for my sisters house in Camden. My oldest nephews were very excited about Ho Ho coming that night (that is what they call Santa, very cute), it took a while for them to settle down to sleep.

Christmas Day, Sam, who is six got up very early and wanted to open his presents, Bec (his mum) told him it was too early. At 6:30 he woke Zach (age 4) up so that they could open their stockings. When they had done that we all got ready for church, I wore the dress that Hayley and Kate had bought me as a christmas present.

We had present opening when we got back from church. I got some really nice stuff, my mum bought me a cute hat box, the book Devil Wears Prada, the new Robbie Williams DVD, and some scrapbooking stuff, from Bec and all her boys I got a pretty watch, from dad I got a beautiful charm bracelet with Celtic charms he bought when we were in Ireland and a book. Oh and from David on Christmas Eve I got a sugar bowl and creamer. I think I did pretty well!

Lunch was prawns, cold ham and turkey and salad. For dessert we had christmas pudding and trifle. I ate lots! The afternoon was pretty relaxing, we sat around, watched the boys play with their new toys, walked down to the park. It wasn't warm enough for a swim, which was a bit disappointing as Bec and Graeme have a pool.

Boxing Day mum had to be back in Canberra to start work at 3pm, but dad, who came up seperately was going to see my uncle Bruce, who was in Sydney for Christmas, he lives in Hong Kong at the moment. I decided to go with him, and I am glad I did, it was a really nice afternoon. We drove into the city, and parked at Martin Place, we battled our way through the crowds in Pitt St Mall (craziness!) and finally managed to find uncle Bruce, his wife Ute, her daughter Annie and Annie's boyfriend Sam. We went and had coffee at the Hilton hotel, to try and get away from the crowds, and then decided to go out to Newtown where Annie and Sam live. We went to a pub in Newtown, had a couple of drinks and some nice Thai style food. Then it was back to Annie's place, which was in walking distance. It was really nice to spend time with them all, as it has been quite a while since I have seen them. We didn't leave until about 7:30 in the evening, so we were pretty late getting back to Canberra.

I had an extra day off from work the next day, and I had a phone interview for a job in Brisbane, that was nerve-wracking, now I have to wait to hear if they offer it to me. Would be a big move, but kind of exciting.

I went back to work on Thursday, and worked two days, very quiet days, it was very boring, hardly any work came in, I left early both days. Now I am glad it is the weekend again, and another long weekend, which is even better. I am going to spend New Years Eve with Hayley and Kate, which should be nice.

I am about to head down to Hayley's place, there is a storm coming, I can hear the thunder already, so I hope I make it before the rain comes. I hope everyone has a Happy New Year, and I will write again soon.

It's almost over

You probably think I mean the year, and you would be half right. It is almost the end of the year, and very close to Christmas now, but more on that later. What I really mean is that the Harry Potter series is almost over, you are probably now looking rather blankly at the screen "What on Earth is she talking about?" you are probably saying, and your hand is reaching for the white pages, ready to find the emergency number for the mental health team, please though give me time to finish.

Now I expect everyone who is bothering to read my blog has heard of Harry Potter, even if you have never read them. I am a fan, I love them, and as soon as I finish one I am hanging out for the next one to come out, in this I am not alone, thousands of people right around the world are lapping up every little piece of Harry Potter news they can get. So when JK Rowling revealed the title of book seven on her website the level of excitement went up a few notches. This is always big news when a new book is due to come out, but even more so this time when you consider that this is the final, last ever book in the series. It was big enough to be the leading news story last night, or perhaps it was just a quiet day for news...

Anyway, for those of you who have a little bit of interest in the title, read on, for those of you whose attention has been reduced to almost nil by this boring subject, feel free to scroll down and find out what other things I have been up to since I last wrote. Now that I have the attention of only those who want to discuss, or those that are bored enough to read anyway (are you really that ready for christmas?) the title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has been confirmed as the title of the final book. Speculation has already begun, a lot of people seem to think it relates to Halloween, which is the anniversary of Harry's parents death. My take on it however is this: The Deathly Hallows actually relates to the room at the Ministry of Magic where the veil hangs, the one Sirius dissappeared behind. Either the room itself is called the Deathly Hallows, or it is the name of the place behind the veil. Now to spend the time until the book comes out making stuff up and being completely wrong, should be fun.

Alright, back to real life. Well I have finished work until Thursday, five whole days off work, that is going to be so nice. I have also managed to finish my christmas shopping, and I did that about a week ago, so I have been able to avoid the horrible rush at the shopping centres. Last weekend I went up to Temora with mum, David (my brother), and cousin Jodie to visit my Nanna, and other family who live up there. It was really nice spending time with them, we ate plenty, and talked, nice and relaxing.

Otherwise I have been at work most of the time, very boring I know, but it pays for all those christmas presents I bought, and stuff for me too (hooray). For christmas I am going to Camden, where my sister, Rebecca, lives with her husband and three little boys, so that should be fun. I will let you all know how it goes when I get back. For now, have a lovely Christmas everyone, enjoy the time off and time with family and/or friends. Remember that the reason we celebrate is because of God's amazing gift to us, his son Jesus, who came to take away the sins of the Earth, amazing love!

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" Luke 2: 10-11

My Close Encounter with Robbie Williams

I got back yesterday from a weekend in Sydney. My friend Hayley and I went up for the Robbie Williams concert, part of his Close Encounters world tour. It was an awesome weekend.

We left Canberra on Friday morning, nice and early, we caught the train and it left at 6:37am. The train journey was fairly uneventful although we did manage to make friends with a little boy named Jake, he chatted to us for a large amount of the trip, while his father shook his head in disbelief at the stories we were told.

We arrived in Sydney at about 11am, and we set off to find our hotel, it wasn't too far from Central Station, but we got a little lost and walked a bit more than we needed to. Still we found it eventually and were able to leave our bags there. We then set out for Taronga Zoo, the first thing we had planned for our big Sydney weekend.


We caught a bus to Circular Quay, and the Ferry across the Harbour to the Zoo. I got some lovely pictures of the Harbour from the ferry. The zoo was fantastic, we saw the new elephants that have recently arrived from Thailand, as well as all our other favourites, the lions and tigers, the meercats as well as lots of other animals. We also went to the Seal Show, which was cool, especially as Hayley decided we should sit in the front row. One of the seals showed a new trick, that involved everyone in at least the front row getting wet, good thing it was quite warm and I dried pretty quickly. We also saw the Free Flight Bird Show, where we saw lots of different Australian birds, including a Wedge-Tailed and a Sea Eagle, a couple of Owls, and several smaller birds. A boy in the audience got to hold an owl on his hand, and Hayley had a galah take a gold coin from her hand, and then return it a short time later. We caught the sky Safari cable car that runs above the zoo, and goes down to wharf, then the ferry back to Circular Quay.

We then went back to the hotel to check in and get ready for dinner. We had dinner at Nick's Bar and Grill at Darling Harbour, beautiful seafood. We share the Seafood Buffet for Two, which had Lobster, Crab, Prawns, Oysters, Mussels, and Calamari. It was all so beautiful, I love seafood, especially Lobster, which I don't get to have very often. I also had a Mango Daiquiri, so lovely, I knew there was some things I liked about summer ;0)

On Saturday we went shopping, hooray. We walked down to Paddy's Market to catch the Monorail into the city. We went to Pitt St Mall, I managed to find Haigh's chocolates, yum. We also went to the huge David Jones, it was amazing, and so much pretty stuff! We saw Manolo Blahniks 30% off! Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the main event, Robbie Williams.


We got to the stadium and waited in line for a while before the gates opened and we were able to go in. We bought t-shirts on the way in and then found out place on the oval, we were glad to sit down for a while as we waited, and waited, and waited. Robbie came on at 8:30 and he was awesome. He was really chatty, and funny, he promised that if he ever gets kicked out of America (where he currently lives) he will move to Australia. I took a few pictures, and I was able to watch the big screens, occasionally peoples heads moved and I could glimpse the stage, plenty of times through the evening I wished I was taller. It was so great though, he is an amazing performer, a true entertainer! He sang some of my favourite songs, including Come Undone, Angels, and Make Me Pure. He also sang a couple of songs with his best friend Jonathon Wilkes which was cool.

Sunday we spent the day at Darling Harbour, we had brunch and saw Deep Sea 3D at the imax, and went to the Aquarium before heading to Central Station to catch the train. Funny thing our little friend Jake was sitting right in front of us this time and we got some more interesting stories from him again before he went to sleep. The journey seemed to take forever, especially as the train was delayed in the first place. We were very glad to get home, the whole weekend was great though, well worth the exhaustion.

Life in the Slow(er) Lane

So first day into life beyond NaNoWriMo 2006. It's kind of nice to have a bit more time, not to have to rush home to write as many words as I can, to go back to some of my hobbies and interests that I ignored for the month of November.

First thing I did after finishing work today was go shopping, no not for me, although that is fun. I began my christmas shopping, I managed to get a few people marked off my list, it felt good as I was starting to stress over just how many people I have to buy presents for. I have to admit I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to presents, I always want to get the perfect present, and I like to see that whoever I bought the present for really liked it. If I can get a good reaction that means as much, if not more to me than recieving presents myself.

I am also going to have more time for the Group Reads I am involved with. This is good as the Tolkien one has been a bit quiet and I feel a bit guilty about not contributing as much as I would like. The North and South Group Read is going on quite busily as there are more people involved in it than in the Hobbit GR. I am just trying to keep up with the posts at the moment.

When I got home from work I indulged in something I haven't managed to find the time for in the past couple of weeks...BBC Radio. Yes ok, it is a bit of a weird addiction, but I love it, I listened to some Just a Minute, and some I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. They really are hilariously funny, I sit and laugh, if you like odd British comedy (think Blackadder, the Goodies etc) you should really check it out.

Now that I have finished my NaNo novel things can probably slow down a bit, but with the approach of Christmas probably not much. I have to do my Christmas shopping, and I would like to do some baking, Gingerbread for example. Thanks to cousin Jodie, who found them first, I found cookie cutters for a Gingerbread House, I made one a few years back, and I am hoping to make at least one again this year. I love to bake, even if I don't really like cooking anything else much. My Gingerbread House will hopefully look similar to this

I will take photos of mine when it is done, and put it up.

Lastly congratulations to one of my best friends, Hayley, who won NaNoWriMo as well, she finished her novel this afternoon. Hooray, we did it!

End of November...End of NaNoWriMo

Yes that is right, it is almost the end of the month, and so I should be just about done with my NaNoWriMo Novel, so am I? Well better than that, I am finished, I have uploaded my story to the NaNo website, and I have officially been told that I won. I finished it this morning, with 51063 words. I am so happy that I managed to finish, to win. There have been so many times in the past month that I thought that it was impossible to get there. Whether my novel is worth reading is another question, I think I will leave it for a couple of days before I go back and look over it again and see what it is like, and what needs to be done before I share it. I will hopefully write again tomorrow after work. I'll just leave you with one thing:

Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

What two posts in two days! Guess I really did realise that I need to post more often.

The thing is, not much has changed since yesterday, except for one thing. I changed the music I was listening to. The other day, when I went to Borders, I bought an album that U2 have just put out of 18 of their singles. It is great, of course, but not what I wanted to talk about.

The title of this post is from a song on John Mayer's new album, Continuum. I have had this for a few weeks now, and have listened to it before. Now though I ripped it onto the computer and I was listening to it earlier while writing my novel (30000 words now by the way). It has just reconfirmed the amazing talent John has, for songwriting, singing and guitar playing.

Some of you may have heard the single that he has released off the album, Waiting on the World to Change I really like that song, but let me tell you the others I like more...

The first one to attract my attention, as soon as I got the album was Gravity it is very sad, but so beautiful. I was going to pick a favourite line, but they all fit together so well, I just can't separate one line from the rest.

The next one that I found that I really liked is actually the next track on the album The Heart of Life. I really love the tune for this one, but the words are georgeous too. But I know the Heart of Life is Good still kind of sad, but with an optimistic view this song.

Moving on, I found another one that I really like, hey actually I like them all, these are just my favourites so far, so stick with me. Vultures this one I have to move along to the music, I can't sit still and listen to it, I just can't. Great lyrics as well, as usual for John, he really knows how to string a sentence togther. Down to the Wire, I wanted water but I'll walk through the fire, If this is what it takes, to take me even higher.

The last track on the album I'm Gonna Find Another You is really sad, You got me crying, As was your plan. The music is quite bluesy I think, I like it.

Finally, although not in order the song with the same title as this post. I only just really got into this one tonight, and it was what prompted this post. Another sad one, some really beautiful lyrics in this one, so I think I will just give them to you and let you figure it out for yourself:

It's not a silly little moment
It's not the storm before the calm
This is the deep and dying breath
Of this love that we've been working on

Can't seem to hold you like I want to
So I can feel you in my arms
Nobody's gonna come and save you
We pulled too many false alarms

We're going down
And you can see it, too
We're going down
And you know that we're doomed
My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

I was the one you always dreamed of
You were the one I tried to draw
How dare you say it's nothing to me?
Baby, you're the only light I ever saw
I'll make the most of all the sadness
You'll be the bitch because you can
You'll try to hit me just to hurt me
So you leave me feeling dirty
Cause you can't understand

We're going down
And you can see it, too
We're going down
And you know that we're doomed
My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

Go cry about it, why don't you?
My dear, we're slow dancing in a burning room

Don't you think we oughta know by now?
Don't you think we should have learned somehow?

If you like this, it's so much better to music, go and buy the album, it is worth it, seriously!

November has been busy

Well I started writing a post probably at least a week ago, but I didn't manage to finish it. Hopefully I will do better this time around.

As I said in the title, this month has turned out to be very busy. A lot of it is my own fault though, as I just seem to keep signing myself up to do more things.

It probably wouldn't be so insane this month if it hadn't been for the fact that I have worked full-time for the whole month so far. One of the ladies at work left, and I agreed to take on part of her job. She was trained in Cytology and filled in when the ladies who do the preparation work went on holidays. I am now going to do that job. One of them is away next week, so I had a whole two weeks to learn everything I need to know. So I have been in Cytology for the last two weeks full-time, learning as quickly as I could. For those not in the know, Cytology is the area of patholoy that looks for abnormal cells in fluids, such as urines, pap smears and cerebro-spinal fluid (and what ever else comes in), my job involves making slides and staining them so that the cells can be looked at under the microscope to see if they are abnormal, such as cancer cells. That is the best explaining I can do, so if you still don't understand, I'm sorry, and maybe try google or wikipedia.

As for my spare time, most of that has been taken up with my NaNoWriMo attempt. I have now written 24000 words, and am hoping that I will be able to make it to 25000 by this evening. I will then be halfway through the word count, although I should be past that by now. I am hoping that I can catch up over the next week. I am having fun doing it, and am hopeful that I can reach 50000 words by the end of November. My novel even has a plot, of sorts, and I know where I am trying to end up.

Now to the other things that I have taken on to fill as much of my time as I can ;0) The Tolkien board that I am a member of, http://http://amanvalinor.proboards83.com/index.cgi, has started a Group Read of The Hobbit We were discussing two chapters a week, but we decided to up that to three chapters each week.

I have also signed up to another Group Read on C19, which is a website for people who like to discuss novels by 19th Century authors. The book we are discussing is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. We are only reading two chapters a week, so hopefully I will be able to keep up. I was going to put a link to the website, but I am having trouble doing it.

Other news? I went to my sisters house last weekend for my nephew, Zachs birthday. It is hard to believe he is four already! They grow up so quickly.

We had a Borders bookshop open in Canberra recently. I have been to check it out. It looks pretty good, so many books, and quite a few that you don't usually see anywhere else. It also has a coffee shop inside. I think it is a good thing that it is at a shopping centre that I don't usually go to, or I would spend far too much money there.

Less than a month till Robbie Williams now. Hayley and I watched the DVD of his concert at Knebworth the other night to get in the mood. It was awesome, he is such a great performer. I am really looking forward to it, more now than I was before. It is scary that there is going to be 50000 people there, but I am sure it will be worth it.

I think I should write more often so that I don't have so much to write next time.

Woke up this morning to the unusual, but most definantly welcome sound of rain. It was so lovely to be able to lie in bed listening to the rain on the roof. It is just a shame that it didn't last longer.

It is the middle of the week already! Our NATA inspection at work is tomorrow, that will be fun, haha, not. My boss has been stressing out for about a month about it, which encourages everyone else to be calm of course.

Went to Kate's house for dinner last night, it was a lot of fun talking about our New York holiday from last year. Then I went over to Hayley's to watch some Firefly.

Can I just say that so far I love this show. It is very sad knowing that there is only the one season, and the movie. Joss Whedon (of Buffy fame), is awesome, I can't understand why the show was axed after only one season.


The other thing I am sad about is the final F1 race was on over the weekend, Brazil. It was Michael Schumacher's final race, and his last chance to win another championship. Because it was Brazil it was on at 3am my time, so no chance of me watching it live. I taped it, and watched it on Monday, even after I had heard the results on the radio. Michael didn't manage to win either the championship or the race, but he still had an awesome drive. One thing I can say is he has not lost it, he would still be able to come back and win another championship, if he wanted to. He is one of the best drivers there will ever be. Good luck in the future Michael, enjoy spending time with your family.

Indy was on last weekend at the Gold Coast too, I didn't watch most of it, but I saw the final V8 race. Rick Kelly is looking good for the championship, I hope he can beat Craig Lowndes for the title, go Holden!

Otherwise I am about to cook Myretta's Too Chocolate for Words Brownies for this weekends scrapbooking retreat, which should be a lot of fun.

Not long now until NaNoWriMo starts! I am starting to put together a plot and have a couple of characters. I am going to write a romance novel.

Red goes Faster?

Well a big weekend for motorsport, and therefore me, has just past. I am a fan of both F1 and the V8 Supercars. In both series I go for red cars, Ferrari and Holden respectively.

The Ferrari race was in Japan this week, and the second last race of the series. For the V8's it was the biggest race of the year, the Bathurst 1000.

Saturday qualifying for both looked good. Both Ferrari's on the front row of the grid, and Mark Skaife in his HRT commodore in pole.

Sunday I spent the entire day sitting in front of the tv. The Bathurst race started at 10am, but coverage started at 7. It finished at 5pm, and the only time I left the lounge room was during ad breaks. The F1 started at 3pm, but I could only access that using the live timing on the official F1 website.

Problem is Mark Skaife drove about 100m, before another car rear-ended him and shunted him into the wall. Race over, at maybe 10:05. Michael Schumacher went somewhat further into his race before an engine failure saw him out. Not a good day really, especially since Michaels main rival in the championship won, and has made it almost impossible for Michael to win what would be his final year. In the V8s I could at least change my loyalties to the Kelly Bros. they did well, finishing 2nd, but sadly behind a Ford. Very sad all round.

I went to the National Zoo and Aquarium with Hayley on Saturday. Was a lot of fun, saw all the big cats, I love the tigers, and the snow leopards, oh and the cheetahs... We saw the king cheetah, I want to do the "meet the king" where you can go in and pat the king cheetah, so cool. The otters and the penguins were georgeous as well. I love the zoo, and all the animals. In the aquarium we saw Nemo, and Dory.

Other news, I bought an ipod video! The new 80gb one. It is so pretty and shiny, and will be good for not only listening to music, but watching videos and listening to audio books. I have already downloaded three of Jane Austen's novel's, woohoo.

Also I have signed up to attempt NaNoWriMo. Basically you try and write a 50,000 word novel in one month, the month of November to be exact. More info at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/ I am not sure how I will go, but I am going to give it a shot.

Day off work tomorrow, hooray.

I love long weekends

Labour day long weekend, sadly it is over now, but I had a good weekend.

Went to cousin Jodie's Tupperware party on Saturday afternoon, and stayed on for her house warming party on Saturday evening. Ordered some more tupperware at the former (yay). It was a fun day, sitting around chatting with people. Was very good and walked over to Jodie's house, and then had to find someone willing to take me home afterwards as it was too dark, and too late to be walking home.

Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. Went to church in the morning and then at home in the afternoon I didn't really do much. Sat in the sun on the back step reading Sense and Sensibility for the Group Read I am doing at the moment. Spent the rest of the day doing nothing really.

Monday was good, went to Emma and Harold's for lunch with Jodie, roast pork, yum. Then Jodie, Emma and I sat around and did some stitching and chatted. I worked on my dragon cross-stitch. It is a Teresa Wentzler pattern called The Storyteller the colours in it are beautiful, I have been working on it for a couple of years now and am at the backstitch stage, so I am hoping that it won't be too long before I have finished it. I just need to keep working on it. Here is a picture that I got off her official website:



















Went out with the family for dinner, then home and after watching a bit of tv, I went to bed.

This week I am working afternoon/evening shifts at work, so I have the morning free. Am trying to watch all of my DVD collection, so hopefully I will be able to get some of that done this week.

That is about all I did over the weekend.

wasting time...

So what did I do with my day today? Went to work obviously, then I went looking for a display cabinet to put all my Belleek china into. Couldn't find what I wanted though so I went to Koorong and Canty's, the first being my local christian bookshop, the second my favourite second-hand bookshop. Spent far too much money on books, including Deirdre Le Faye's Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. I am a huge Jane Austen fan, which my friends should know by now!

I came home and listened to some BBC radio, another of my addictions. I absolutely love I'm Sorry I haven't a Clue a comedy show, it is hilarious. I also like Just a Minute, Quote...Unquote and The Write Stuff. BBC7 also has some great dramatised novels. Good things to waste my time with.

I also found out what Middle-Earth race I am:

To which race of Middle Earth do you belong?

Elvish
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And got sorted into a Hogwarts house:



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The fact that I came back Elvish was a bit surprising, I thought I would be a Hobbit. Being in Gryffindor was less of a surprise, especially since I have done that before and got the same result. Thanks to the people on my Tolkien board for posting the links to each of these.

Here goes

Well I have never tried a blog before, so I am not sure how it will go. I am sitting here in the lounge room, watching Oprah, writing this and generally wasting time on the internet. Not unusual for me really.

I am hoping just to have a bit of fun with my blog, and try something new.