A Bone... (and pictures...)

Nice of JKR to throw us one :)

Now if only she'd hurry up and write it. (I'm not demanding at all!)

It's amazing the amount of time I feel I have to update this blog now that I'm on holiday. (Yeah, don't get used to it - the three people that read this!)

So, I'm making this a day of random pictures. Today, I'm making peach cake. (Thanks to Anne Hathaway's recipe in Woman's Day...) Also, thanks to the miracle of fan bake - it's done (I think) sooner than expected.

It's looking a TAD burnt, but once I dust it with icing sugar it should be all good.

The one thing that frustrates me is that we don't have a cake rack. But it should be all good for tonight. I'm just letting it sit in the oven as I type this. Hopefully it tastes good. I substituted lemon zest for orange zest.

What's amazing is I've done all this before taking a shower. I woke up at 10.15 and went "oh crap!" because I'm supposed to be going to Isaac's for lunch for his sister's birthday. And I wanted to bake before hand. And now, instead of having a shower (or at least doing pilates....)

**whoops, have just gotten the cake out and it looks like peach slice because it didn't rise enough because the pan I used was too big! Lol***

It looks better in the tin, maybe I'll leave it there...


Choir at WPiTP!!! Yay! Look, you can JUST see me up the back there. (I have conveniently pointed myself out just so no one is left out of the loop...)

Anyway, it was FREEZING up there. I couldn't feel my hands after. But we did pretty good (if I do say so myself...) and I was impressed when I saw the video the monday after.

Ahhh...pre-Christmas fun.

People keep coming round to drop stuff off - well, two people have. Haha, how's that for exaggeration. Although the landlord did drop off a nice hamper for us :) Bless his cotton socks.

And I really should shower now...it's almost 12...

Christmas prep!

Ugh. I'm exhausted and hungry and COLD. It's freakin freezing - what is UP with that???? You'd think it was the height of winter rather than the middle of summer.

Example: It's warmed up a little, Mozilla tells me that the temperature outside is 11c. 11!!!! It should be like 23 or something. I should no be having to wear my winter jacket when I head out - nor should I have to have three layers on or be wearing ugg boots inside. *sigh*

Bbq tonight should at least be interesting. I've made kebabs. It was supposed to be at the beach, but the weather has made that impossible. So it's here. On the eve of the Christmas eve eve party. (Like the number of "eves"?)

Speaking of which - I made a HUGE batch of peanut butter cookies for the party and I'm planning on making peach cake sometime today as well :) AND...on christmas itself I'll be making oreo cheesecake and potato salad to bring to the parentals. I love cooking. I volunteered to cook on Christmas eve so that we can have a flat tea. It's gonna be a roast chicken. Which is nice and uh...wintery.

So yes, LOTS of cooking. The final presents were bought today and there should be a picture post soon!

Holidays!!!

It's the first day of my holidays. I'm so happy!!! You don't know how glad I am that I have the rest of this week off. Work is starting to suck the big one.

Anyway, it's all busy at the moment. Figures, with christmas on.

So, to anyone who reads this - have a Merry Christmas and I'll probably see you in the new year! Yay!

Eragon: An Epic Flop?

There's been a lot of hype surrounding this movie in these parts. For one thing, you can't go ANYWHERE without seeing a movie poster. They're on the back of buses, in bus stops, in the malls, in kfc...the list goes on.

The book is fantastic. Almost brilliant when you consider that Christopher Paolini wrote it when he was only 15.

The movie was a classic example of one of those big budget films where they spent more money on advertising than on making the movie any good. If I was Paolini - and I don't claim to have the ability to write a novel at age 15 - I would have never allowed such a vigourous bastardisation of my work.

The movie followed none of the original plot, it removed everything that was interesting about the minor characters and excluded a large number of major characters and characters that would play a major role in any future movies they might want to make. (Although, judging from the response from most people they may not make any future movies anyway...)

How can you do that? How can you completely twist the plot of the book so that it is virtually unrecognisable?? It almost makes me feel ashamed of my little duelling Eragon from KFC that sits on my desk. The book had plenty of scope for a fantasy epic - possibly not up to the standards of Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings or even Narnia. But it had potential.

Unfortunately, really bad casting, the lack of a good script - not to mention the lack of a plot of any kind - and poor character development, completely destroyed this film before it even had the chance. Perhaps if they'd spent a little less on special effects and more on casting? The characters were virtually unrecognisable and the film conveyed a feeling of moving along as quickly as possible so that we could get to the major fight scene at the end. (Which, btw - did not go at all as described in the book...) Basically, the film moved so fast that there was no chance for the characters to develop.

We mainly found the film funny even though it wasn't meant to be.

It's really unfortunate because I was really looking forward to it!

In other news: Read Eldest. It's SO much better :)

Bit belated but nonetheless...

Lol. My flatmates are silly! It's been almost two weeks and this still makes me laugh.

Why?

Why do people insist on wasting my time?

I don't care that you want an envelope specifically for posting books at 90c. We have a book mailer. That is all I know. If you don't want that, well, I really don't care.

I don't care that our Oki Toner cartridges are too expensive for your liking. That's the price, like it or lump it.

I don't care that you normally get a list of all your printer cartridges that you use sent out. If you can't give me more information than I normally order a brother fax cartridge I can't find the cartridge for you.

Grrr...

On the upside. I win for "outstanding commitment to our customer's and our business". If only they knew!

Techno Geek

I am now the proud owner of not one, but two laptops. How geeky can I get??? Lol. But the new one is SO pretty. It's an Acer and has a built-in webcam and is SO MUCH faster than the old laptop. (Which I am selling btw...so I won't be the owner of two laptops for too much longer!) But oh so pretty! *sigh*

In fact, it's sitting by me at work now. Yeah, *geek*

I have spent all today cutting out elves for christmas in lieu of our pod decorations. Tim's away so it's actually quite fun :) Not that he's an old stick in the mud or anything. But he's still the TL and he's so competitive that it gets in the way of having fun sometimes. Well, at least, I feel bad if I'm slacking off!

Today's gone quick though!!!

I've finished Eragon, Eldest AND Uglies and Pretties this week so far. (I edit this post on Thursday...lazy, I know!) I'm going to buy Specials tonight so I can finish at least ONE trilogy. I hate that the Inheritance one isn't finished yet, it's sucked me in like a sucking thing. I can't wait till the movie comes out. In fact, I discovered today that KFC are giving out Eragon lunch boxes for the kids meals with toys. SO EXCITED!

I get sucked into these things too easily.

I'd actually go buy it from KFC if I wasn't so broke at the moment. I hate being broke. I can only go to Borders tonight because work gave us all $50 Westfield vouchers for Christmas. I'm not broke, broke, but I've seriously over-spent this month and I don't get paid for like another week. (Or slightly less...)

I can go home soon. 20 mins and counting...

December!!

It's basically the end of the year now.

This time last year I was in Singapore, on my way to the UK. THAT was fun. This time this year I am working. Still. I have been here 7 months now. How crazy is that????!

Last year sounded like a whole lot more fun, but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

It's funny, I went to my parents' for tea last night and as I was driving back home I thought of several years back when uni was still pretty new and the number of times that I'd driven down that road and how Jem used to live on the way and I'd stop in to pick him up or go over on my way home from prayer meeting and wake him up...

I feel so old now. Lol! Now I don't even have to drive past, cuz his room is right next to mine. AND I only drive the road from Papanui to Hornby once a week...

It just surprised me how much things had changed, not in a particularly bad way. Just different.

In other news...the technician says that my laptop has nothing wrong with it. AND they charged my $50 to tell me that. I believed him too, right up until this morning when it started playing up again. I hate it.

I'm going to get a new one tomorrow :)

December!!

It's basically the end of the year now.

This time last year I was in Singapore, on my way to the UK. THAT was fun. This time this year I am working. Still. I have been here 7 months now. How crazy is that????!

Last year sounded like a whole lot more fun, but I suppose we all have to grow up sometime!

It's funny, I went to my parents' for tea last night and as I was driving back home I thought of several years back when uni was still pretty new and the number of times that I'd driven down that road and how Jem used to live on the way and I'd stop in to pick him up or go over on my way home from prayer meeting and wake him up...

I feel so old now. Lol! Now I don't even have to drive past, cuz his room is right next to mine. AND I only drive the road from Papanui to Hornby once a week...

It just surprised me how much things had changed, not in a particularly bad way. Just different.

In other news...the technician says that my laptop has nothing wrong with it. AND they charged my $50 to tell me that. I believed him too, right up until this morning when it started playing up again. I hate it.

I'm going to get a new one tomorrow :)