no subject
Thu, Dec. 28th, 2017 08:02 pm
Merry Christmas, my lovelies <3! It would appear I've left myself to another massive life update. Again. I swear to g this will change next year. But we'll get to that. I have a couple of months to catch up here yet.
So. October was the last update, eh? Cool beans. The biggest thing that happened was Gran, the old battle-axe of the family, 98 and a half years old, finally passed on. We've all been halfway-expecting her to make 110, certainly a hundred, but despite that it wasn't a major shock. I mean, how much of a shock can it be at 98 and a half years old? She fell over back in September, on the way back from posting her marriage equality postal survey, and broke her shoulder. From there she went to hospital, and whether consciously or unconsciously, we figure she just decided it was too hard to get better and so just said 'bugger it.' She moved through to respite care, which then became a nursing home, and despite all her medical stuff saying she was about as healthy as your average 80-year-old, she stopped eating and drinking and just faded off. Peacefully, in her sleep, one of her dear sons holding her hand... literally couldn't have asked for better (except that she wanted this like ten years ago, but that's her problem).
I haven't cried. I figured out this is mostly because I can't feel sad for her. Like I say, she was healthy right to the end, still living at home until she'd fallen, pretty much her decision to die anyway, peacefully in her sleep. Everyone dies. I don't think it's possible to die better, so good bloody on 'er, I say. Also, she's been preparing us so well for this. We've always openly joked about her age and death and everything with her, usually with her being the one to bring it up, so yeah. Go Gran. More power to you o7
The marriage postal survey happened! Which was a massive waste of $120 million but it had a MASSIVE turnout of 80% of the voting population, of whom nearly 62% voted yes, the law should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry, and rainbows exploded all over the country. The whole campaigning process was toxic, with the no campaigners basically running nothing but a fear campaign, saying boys will start going to school in dresses and that goddamn argument about the baker not being able to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding that just will not die, and 'Safe Schools' coming back and warping kids' minds about what sex and gender is... It was all just so hateful and unresearched and wrong. I was so scared it wasn't going to go through. I'd hoped for more of a landslide, but it was enough for the pollies to recognise that most people DO want this to happen, so yay. Fiiiinally, by the last week before Parliament knocked off for the year, the law was passed and more rainbows exploded across the country, so we'll start seeing our first gay weddings in January, I believe. WOO! 23rd country in the world but we got there in the end.
At work, we've been doing 'Lunch and Learn' sessions, about improving out salesmanship skills. I hate all these things. I've had so many workshops at this place that show me how to be a better salesperson. I am not a salesperson. I am a graphic designer, but we've had absolutely zero upskilling for graphic design. I just learn by doing and observing what's going on with other design around the place. I have one workmate who's a graphic designer, and honestly he's more programmer than designer. How much programming and salesmanship does a graphic designer have to do in an actual graphic design studio? I genuinely have zero idea. What, exactly, is involved in professional web design? Do I have to know the coding or do I just design it and palm it off to a code monkey to make it happen? No idea. Maybe I can figure this out .-.
Anyway, sidetracked. I had a sales win! After seven years of people trying to shoehorn me into a sales role, I actually did a thing. Someone rang up asking first for envelopes, regular DL and DLX for machine inserting. Except that their machine was broken, so they'd have to do it all by hand. 'Oh, we can do that for you :D' says me. 'We could even print all the letters for you, if you haven't done that bit yet.' So in the end we covered their entire 1200-ish mailout, with barcodes and lodgement with Australia Post and everything, when all she asked for was envelopes. I DID A THING YAAAAY it felt good. Sure as hell not something I'll ever want to do for a living, but nice to have a win.
And now we're into Christmas and holidays and all that entails, YESSSSSS. First extended time off since Japan <3 So Alex has come over from Sydney, we've been to disgustingly hipster cafés for breakfast, lunch and dinner, been swimming in Mum and Dad's pool and went to see Thor: Ragnarok again because it's just such a fun, hilarious movie. Lunch and shopping tomorrow, probably the same on Saturday and NYE on Sunday night with the girls. Woo!
Christmas we've done in three parts, owing to the availability of various persons. Last weekend we were down with the Goolwa connection, because Colin and Laura were with Laura's folks for Christmas Day and one of my cousins had gone back home to Darwin. Second was just the five of us (Mum, Dad, me, Colin and Laura) at Mum and Dad's, when we did presents and a relaxed and awesome lunch from Mum. Christmas Day was back down at Goolwa, same people as the previous weekend with a few extras and a few missing. So, disjointed but so, so much amazing food. We stayed down there the night at Dad's brother's beach house with an amazing view down the South Coast.
And now we're here! This year, I had a diary wherein I wrote lists of stuff to do each month, including a bunch of standard stuff that had to happen every month, and it worked out really well. I got a lot of stuff done each month. Next year, I'll add a weekly list, and on it will be LJ post. I work well to lists, so if I have that on there, it'll get done. Maybe I'll miss one here and there, but at least I won't get so behind as I've been doing this year. No specific day, because there'll always be something that comes up and interrupts it. I kinda want to do a journal, too. After Gran's death, I went back through my LJ and a journal I'd kept when I was 14 and it was pretty fascinating to read back on. The journal especially, because I wrote it without the intention of anyone else reading it. We'll see.
For now, I need dinner.
Merry Christmas, my lovely darlings! I love you all dearly <3 <3
So. October was the last update, eh? Cool beans. The biggest thing that happened was Gran, the old battle-axe of the family, 98 and a half years old, finally passed on. We've all been halfway-expecting her to make 110, certainly a hundred, but despite that it wasn't a major shock. I mean, how much of a shock can it be at 98 and a half years old? She fell over back in September, on the way back from posting her marriage equality postal survey, and broke her shoulder. From there she went to hospital, and whether consciously or unconsciously, we figure she just decided it was too hard to get better and so just said 'bugger it.' She moved through to respite care, which then became a nursing home, and despite all her medical stuff saying she was about as healthy as your average 80-year-old, she stopped eating and drinking and just faded off. Peacefully, in her sleep, one of her dear sons holding her hand... literally couldn't have asked for better (except that she wanted this like ten years ago, but that's her problem).
I haven't cried. I figured out this is mostly because I can't feel sad for her. Like I say, she was healthy right to the end, still living at home until she'd fallen, pretty much her decision to die anyway, peacefully in her sleep. Everyone dies. I don't think it's possible to die better, so good bloody on 'er, I say. Also, she's been preparing us so well for this. We've always openly joked about her age and death and everything with her, usually with her being the one to bring it up, so yeah. Go Gran. More power to you o7
The marriage postal survey happened! Which was a massive waste of $120 million but it had a MASSIVE turnout of 80% of the voting population, of whom nearly 62% voted yes, the law should be changed to allow same sex couples to marry, and rainbows exploded all over the country. The whole campaigning process was toxic, with the no campaigners basically running nothing but a fear campaign, saying boys will start going to school in dresses and that goddamn argument about the baker not being able to refuse to bake a cake for a gay wedding that just will not die, and 'Safe Schools' coming back and warping kids' minds about what sex and gender is... It was all just so hateful and unresearched and wrong. I was so scared it wasn't going to go through. I'd hoped for more of a landslide, but it was enough for the pollies to recognise that most people DO want this to happen, so yay. Fiiiinally, by the last week before Parliament knocked off for the year, the law was passed and more rainbows exploded across the country, so we'll start seeing our first gay weddings in January, I believe. WOO! 23rd country in the world but we got there in the end.
At work, we've been doing 'Lunch and Learn' sessions, about improving out salesmanship skills. I hate all these things. I've had so many workshops at this place that show me how to be a better salesperson. I am not a salesperson. I am a graphic designer, but we've had absolutely zero upskilling for graphic design. I just learn by doing and observing what's going on with other design around the place. I have one workmate who's a graphic designer, and honestly he's more programmer than designer. How much programming and salesmanship does a graphic designer have to do in an actual graphic design studio? I genuinely have zero idea. What, exactly, is involved in professional web design? Do I have to know the coding or do I just design it and palm it off to a code monkey to make it happen? No idea. Maybe I can figure this out .-.
Anyway, sidetracked. I had a sales win! After seven years of people trying to shoehorn me into a sales role, I actually did a thing. Someone rang up asking first for envelopes, regular DL and DLX for machine inserting. Except that their machine was broken, so they'd have to do it all by hand. 'Oh, we can do that for you :D' says me. 'We could even print all the letters for you, if you haven't done that bit yet.' So in the end we covered their entire 1200-ish mailout, with barcodes and lodgement with Australia Post and everything, when all she asked for was envelopes. I DID A THING YAAAAY it felt good. Sure as hell not something I'll ever want to do for a living, but nice to have a win.
And now we're into Christmas and holidays and all that entails, YESSSSSS. First extended time off since Japan <3 So Alex has come over from Sydney, we've been to disgustingly hipster cafés for breakfast, lunch and dinner, been swimming in Mum and Dad's pool and went to see Thor: Ragnarok again because it's just such a fun, hilarious movie. Lunch and shopping tomorrow, probably the same on Saturday and NYE on Sunday night with the girls. Woo!
Christmas we've done in three parts, owing to the availability of various persons. Last weekend we were down with the Goolwa connection, because Colin and Laura were with Laura's folks for Christmas Day and one of my cousins had gone back home to Darwin. Second was just the five of us (Mum, Dad, me, Colin and Laura) at Mum and Dad's, when we did presents and a relaxed and awesome lunch from Mum. Christmas Day was back down at Goolwa, same people as the previous weekend with a few extras and a few missing. So, disjointed but so, so much amazing food. We stayed down there the night at Dad's brother's beach house with an amazing view down the South Coast.
And now we're here! This year, I had a diary wherein I wrote lists of stuff to do each month, including a bunch of standard stuff that had to happen every month, and it worked out really well. I got a lot of stuff done each month. Next year, I'll add a weekly list, and on it will be LJ post. I work well to lists, so if I have that on there, it'll get done. Maybe I'll miss one here and there, but at least I won't get so behind as I've been doing this year. No specific day, because there'll always be something that comes up and interrupts it. I kinda want to do a journal, too. After Gran's death, I went back through my LJ and a journal I'd kept when I was 14 and it was pretty fascinating to read back on. The journal especially, because I wrote it without the intention of anyone else reading it. We'll see.
For now, I need dinner.
Merry Christmas, my lovely darlings! I love you all dearly <3 <3
no subject
Sat, Jan. 14th, 2017 01:37 amAnd now, the annual tradition of the Australia Day Lamb Ad.
SUCH A FEEL-GOOD. Idk what happened to Sam Kekovich but tbh I never knew who he was to begin with. I love these ads.
SUCH A FEEL-GOOD. Idk what happened to Sam Kekovich but tbh I never knew who he was to begin with. I love these ads.
no subject
Wed, Jul. 1st, 2015 08:32 pm
idk why I've had two references to this in the last week after going about 2 decades with no mention, but this has gotta be the best kids' show Australia ever produced.
And apparently even kids who WEREN'T born in the 80s grew up on this so it must still be running somewhere? Or at least did until the early naughties?
Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman were my favourite authors growing up. I'm actually rereading Wicked! right now just for some nostalgia. And now Round the Twist keeps cropping up.
If I was in a Round the Twist episode or Paul Jennings short story (same dif) I'd so be about to either de-age or go back in time.
And apparently even kids who WEREN'T born in the 80s grew up on this so it must still be running somewhere? Or at least did until the early naughties?
Paul Jennings and Morris Gleitzman were my favourite authors growing up. I'm actually rereading Wicked! right now just for some nostalgia. And now Round the Twist keeps cropping up.
If I was in a Round the Twist episode or Paul Jennings short story (same dif) I'd so be about to either de-age or go back in time.
no subject
Wed, May. 20th, 2015 06:19 pm
I lolled. Frankly the whole thing has amused the ever-living piss out of me.
(I'd also like to point out that Kyle Sandilands is basically Australia's Jeremy Clarkson only without the cars and he's on FM radio rather than the BBC. So basically nobody ever expects sense to come out of his mouth. Also Barnaby Joyce is, indeed, a knob.)
But yeah. You cannot accidentally take a frigging ANIMAL into Australia. There are signs all over every airport, both the international and domestic terminals, to remind you no fruit or veggies OR ANIMALS. They mention it on the plane when you come into land, no animals. There's the Customs form you fill out and they ask you if you have anything to declare. Not to mention the fact that we're kinda known for having the strictest quarantine laws in the world, and the monkeys they're using on the movie had to be quarantined for months before they could be allowed in. You can't miss all this. Those dogs were deliberately smuggled in. Much as I love Pirates, I am most curious to see what, if anything, ends up happening.
(I'd also like to point out that Kyle Sandilands is basically Australia's Jeremy Clarkson only without the cars and he's on FM radio rather than the BBC. So basically nobody ever expects sense to come out of his mouth. Also Barnaby Joyce is, indeed, a knob.)
But yeah. You cannot accidentally take a frigging ANIMAL into Australia. There are signs all over every airport, both the international and domestic terminals, to remind you no fruit or veggies OR ANIMALS. They mention it on the plane when you come into land, no animals. There's the Customs form you fill out and they ask you if you have anything to declare. Not to mention the fact that we're kinda known for having the strictest quarantine laws in the world, and the monkeys they're using on the movie had to be quarantined for months before they could be allowed in. You can't miss all this. Those dogs were deliberately smuggled in. Much as I love Pirates, I am most curious to see what, if anything, ends up happening.
no subject
Sun, Jul. 24th, 2011 09:27 pmThis is purely for the Aussies. Nobody else will quite get how awesome this is. They might think they do, but they don't really.
Dad showed it to me last week when I went up for dinner. OH GOD THE AWESOME.
no subject
Sun, Oct. 24th, 2010 07:16 pm
Today was spent gardening at Anna P's :D Various veggies, including capsicum, zucchini, sweet corn, celery, some other stuff and a metric shitload of cherry tomatoes. I also bought cacti to put on my desk at work, because I figure I won't be able to kill a cactus. The thing only needs watering, like, once a month.
Angus and Julia Stone are awesome.* I love watching Julia's facial expressions when she's singing.
* Shut up, rest-of-Australia, I know I'm about 3 years late in finding them.
Angus and Julia Stone are awesome.* I love watching Julia's facial expressions when she's singing.
* Shut up, rest-of-Australia, I know I'm about 3 years late in finding them.
no subject
Fri, Aug. 13th, 2010 06:13 pm
You know you're Aussie when you see a picture like this and the first thing that you think is WATER RESTRICTIONS~
no subject
Fri, May. 21st, 2010 08:41 pmWell, duh. Has anybody ever accused meat pies of having meat in them? It's what makes them awesome, the fact they have so much crap in them and yet taste brilliant.
no subject
Fri, Feb. 12th, 2010 02:48 pmHey flist--Canadians especially--you guys know about our Boxing Kangaroo, right? I mean, you know it's like our unofficial flag, yeah? Not actually a sponsorship thing or anything like that? Cos this whole thing has just been loltastic.
no subject
Tue, Feb. 2nd, 2010 09:36 pmI'm just imagining this in script form now.
Pakistan: You should fence the crowd off and ban alcohol at cricket matches >(
Australia: ... *packs up laughing*
Pakistan: You should fence the crowd off and ban alcohol at cricket matches >(
Australia: ... *packs up laughing*
no subject
Tue, Jan. 26th, 2010 10:47 pm
I heart Australia Day *^^* Plonked myself in front of the cricket until Anna P turned up, then we lazed around in the pool on giant inflatable thongs (ours had Aussie flags on them, tho) with the Triple J hottest 100 cranked for a couple hours. Watched the end of the Australian innings, then went down to her place for a barbie~ of lamb chops and sausages, followed by minipavs. The cricket was on in the background, with interspersed channel switches to check on the tennis. We had planned on going to the beach after our very early dinner, but the weather suddenly turned windy and too cool for the beach, so we've made a raincheck on the beach for Saturday instead. In the end we just stayed and watched the end of the cricket--fabulous Aussie win with the South Australian bowler taking five wickets and man of the match at the Adelaide Oval. Couldn't possibly have ended any better *^^*
Just about my favourite holiday of the year, second only to Christmas. I love my country~ *^^*
Just about my favourite holiday of the year, second only to Christmas. I love my country~ *^^*
Australia Day ~ Absolutely No Focus Whatsoever
Tue, Jan. 26th, 2010 12:00 pmHAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY~!
This is the post made of everything else that makes my country AWESOME and can be proven in picture form XD You've already seen our fabulous music, movies, television, comedians, books and beer ads, how have everything that wouldn't fit. We've got animals, food, clothing and rocks. Seriously. Our rocks kick arse. Ain't nobody can do rocks in the middle of nowhere like Australia.
( Animals! )
( Beaches! )
( Food! )
( Footware! )
( Rocks! )
( Sport! )
( Other Stuff! )
This is the post made of everything else that makes my country AWESOME and can be proven in picture form XD You've already seen our fabulous music, movies, television, comedians, books and beer ads, how have everything that wouldn't fit. We've got animals, food, clothing and rocks. Seriously. Our rocks kick arse. Ain't nobody can do rocks in the middle of nowhere like Australia.
( Animals! )
( Beaches! )
( Food! )
( Footware! )
( Rocks! )
( Sport! )
( Other Stuff! )
Australia Day ~ Beer Ad Focus
Mon, Jan. 25th, 2010 05:48 pm
This may seem an odd one until you start playing these things X3 I don't drink beer, but MAN we have some awesome beer ads. I swear about half the advertising money in the country is spent on beer ads, cos they really are quite fabulous. Here, have some lols :D
( beer ads! )
Sad fact: there are currently no kickarse beer ads on telly. Or any kickarse ads at all, really. I blame the GFC.
( beer ads! )
Sad fact: there are currently no kickarse beer ads on telly. Or any kickarse ads at all, really. I blame the GFC.
Australia Day ~ Book Focus
Sun, Jan. 24th, 2010 09:56 pmI'll be honest, I know of no post-worthy Australian authors for adults. I grew up living on Aussie authors, with only Roald Dahl as the exception to the rule. Morris Gleitzman, Paul Jennings, John Marsden, SO MANY children's and young adults' authors in this country that are household names, but once you leave school, nnnnot a lot. I trust the Aussies on my flist will correct me on this--bloody hope they will--but for the time being, here, have the childhood and adolescence of my nation :D
( books! )
( books! )
Australia Day ~ Television Focus
Fri, Jan. 22nd, 2010 02:52 pmPart three of my Aussie pimping, now moving onto tv! In which case, you probably won't be able to watch it unless you're Australian, however you can YouTube a lot of it. We don't export much except Neighbours and Home and Away. We keep all the good stuff to ourselves :D
This is all comedy, because dramas are kinda hard to get clips for out of context, but Aussie cop shows are pretty awesome, too. That's most of what we do, comedy and cop shows. But we do them WELL.
( telly! )
This is all comedy, because dramas are kinda hard to get clips for out of context, but Aussie cop shows are pretty awesome, too. That's most of what we do, comedy and cop shows. But we do them WELL.
( telly! )
Australia Day ~ Movie Focus
Thu, Jan. 21st, 2010 04:50 pmPart two, featuring Aussie movies :D For some reason, most Aussie movies seem to fall into one of two categories: comedies or... whatever the category is that features drugs, rape, suicide and other happy fun sunshine topics. Depressing movies. Those movies bore the shit out of me because they just scream "WE ARE SENDING YOU A MESSAGE PAY ATTENTION TO IT" and I just can't be stuffed. So here, have some classic Aussie comedies, and a couple others that don't fit either category :D
( movies! )
( movies! )
no subject
Thu, Jan. 21st, 2010 12:26 pmTour Down Under's going through my part of the Hills today, so naturally it's 40 degrees. I swear this happens every year. Who'd be a cyclist, srsly?
Australia Day ~ Music Focus
Wed, Jan. 20th, 2010 05:52 pmAustralia Day in a week~ :D I was just planning on making a single post to pimp my country on the day, but after having finished coding up the music section of it, I think that would possibly kill many people, so I'll stagger it over the days leading up instead XD As I mentioned, post the first features Aussie music :D No Kylie, Danii or Delta cos they're annoying as piss and I don't like them. Instead, you get Aussie rock like Taxiride, Powderfinger and Silverchair.
My playlist is 1178 songs long. Of those, 215 are Aussie, because goddamnit Aussie music is fantastic. I'll spare you the full 13 and a half hours, but here, have one or two songs for each of the artists (unless I'm embarassed to admit they're on the playlist). If you want more of any in particular, feel free to ask, I'm all for spreading the love :D
If you've heard any of these before, well done! You're awesome!
( music! )
Aussie music industry is pretty kickarse.
My playlist is 1178 songs long. Of those, 215 are Aussie, because goddamnit Aussie music is fantastic. I'll spare you the full 13 and a half hours, but here, have one or two songs for each of the artists (unless I'm embarassed to admit they're on the playlist). If you want more of any in particular, feel free to ask, I'm all for spreading the love :D
If you've heard any of these before, well done! You're awesome!
( music! )
Aussie music industry is pretty kickarse.
no subject
Thu, Dec. 31st, 2009 12:22 amPLEASE. FLIST. TELL ME THE REST OF THE WORLD OR AT LEAST AUSTRALIA DOES ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT A CHICKEN PARMI* IS. PLEASE DON'T TELL ME IT'S ANOTHER WEIRD SOUTH AUSTRALIAN THING. CASSIE IS WEIRD FOR NOT KNOWING, ISN'T SHE?
* parmigiana. I'll admit the shortening of it probably is Aussie.
* parmigiana. I'll admit the shortening of it probably is Aussie.
