Penguins

Have you ever had one of those days where seeing penguins would just make perfect sense? That's me today. I've had a grand total of five and half hours sleep, which would be fine, if those five and a half hours were all together. But noooooooo. I got one hour's sleep, then about four and half hours sleep three and a half hours later.
Bloody bloody bloody neighbours.
And, I might add, bloody bloody bloody noise control, which I called FOUR TIMES between 1am and 3.30am. They came, they saw, they did NOTHING.
It was only when the neighbours themselves went to bed about 4am that peace finally reigned.
So here I sit at work.
Waiting for the penguins.

Hair terrors

I'm growing my hair.
I think. At the moment it seems to be growing outwards from my head rather than in the correct direction. So, gung-ho, at the supermarket today, I stopped in front of the All You Need for Hair Aisle to find something to make it sit.
That's it. I want it to sit. And stay. I don't want it to curl or smooth or be spiky or 'texture' it (whatever that means anyway). I found products for all of those things. For curling and smoothing and spiking and de-frizzing.
You know what would be great? If someone created a 'sit and stay' product for in-between hair. That's all I need. I don't need to pet and pamper it. I just don't want to look like a mad scientist while it's growing out. Why are the simple things the ones that are too much to ask or hope for?
Why?
I ended up with 'smoothing milk' (I have no idea) a new brush and some clips.
I want to see if I can pin curl it ...

Hibernating

And it's not even winter yet.
I don't know what's the matter with me this week. I've been late for work every single day, battling the people I work with who, apparently, think I'm an incompetent monkey _ despite the fact that I"m the one they come to when they need to do something tricky, or something goes wrong. Whose hands were tingling from doing tricky work on Tuesday?
Mine.
Ppppppppptttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
I'm tired all the time, I'm not getting anything constructive done outside work _ little stitching, hardly any reading, no writing _ all of the stuff that I love to do. I'm sitting on the couch watching TV like a big lumpy lump.
Ugh.
And I've only been back at work a week after two weeks' holiday. I thought holidays were supposed to make things better?
Every day and in every way it seems like it's getting worse. That doesn't seem right to me.
Sigh.
Anyway, a friend of mine got engaged to her Mr Mr last week, and she's still happy and bubbly and on cloud nine, so there's some good news :)

The Chillis v the Neighbours

We have noisy neighbours. The kind who play loud music every single day. And, sometimes, when they don't think we've had enough already, at 3.30am.
And, of course, it all sounds like this:
DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF
pause
DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF
So, yesterday, I got really fed up. We can't really move; most places don't take pets and rentals are few and far between. Now, I don't want to bug my neighbours. The nice quiet ones we never hear a peep out of, anyway. But I discovered something.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Greatest Hits not only drown out
DOOF DOOF DOOF DOOF but are ALSO extremely empowering. Try it sometime. Play Give It Away really really really loudly. I didn't even CARE about the stupid neighbours after that.
I resented them stealing my quality of life. But, in a very rare Zen moment, I realised they're not responsible for that. I am.
Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now ......

WIP report

Okay, so it's not perfect. But I got those babies up there! This is my present cross stitch rotation.
The baby tiger will be for my nephew Jacob and is stitched on 18-ct ecru aida.
The Monet Impressions is on 14-count white aida and will be for me _ eventually. It's one of my older projects.
The Brambly Hedge is for Love Quilts Down Under.
More tomorrow.
My brain cells are tired.

WIP Pix

Post-Oscars

So it was the yearly Oscar get-together for friend Sarah and I. We gather, eat junkfood and yell at the TV _ especially when we see a dress we dislike (Helena Bonham-Carter we mean you) or a nomination we disagree with.
Crash?
Seriously?
Seriously!
I thought it would go to Good Night and Good Luck but no. A movie that has Matt Dillon in it won best picture.
At least Ang Lee won best director, as he deserved to for Brokeback Mountain. I don't care about all the gay cowboy stuff. It's a heartbreaking love story filmed with incredible sensitivity by a great film maker. Best director was the least he deserved.
The Oscars is, still, a show in search of a host. At least this year they abandoned the tacky giving of 'second-tier' awards in the seats. That just ain't right. If it's Hollywood's biggest patting self on the back night of the year, then go all out. Do it right. I though Jon Stewart was fine. But bring back Billy Crystal. Or beg George Clooney to do it. At least that way, if he messes up, no one cares because he's nice to look at.
Otherwise ... eh. More pretty dresses and pretty speeches. How cute is Reese Witherspoon though? Honestly.
The best actor category surprised me (I thought it would go to Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line) but it's good to see Phillip Seymour Hoffman honoured regardless.
To sum up: we ate too many M&Ms, shouted at the TV a lot and had a good time.
I'd like to thank the academy.

Reviews PSA and some tinkering

I already write reviews. So why not here? It's good practice :)
Also ... posting pix ... let's see ...

On holiday!

Woo hoo. Another week off work. Which can only be good, right?
So last Saturday, we packed up the kittens, Merlin and Leo and took them to a cattery. I had already instructed my sister on the Finer Art of Feeding the Large Cats. Pack up the car, visit Mother, and we were off to Central Otago for the night.

I had forgotten how scenic the drive was up through that part of Southland and Central Otago. Very pretty. We stopped just outside Kingston at an old family rest area from my childhood before continuing to Queenstown _ and getting lost before we finally found the hotel. Which became the theme for the rest of the weekend; as we also got lost on the way to the concert.

The concert was at Peregrine Wineries http://www.peregrinewines.co.nz/, which is in Gibbston Valley. And not Arthur's Point. Which is in the opposite direction.

Oops.

So we missed most of the acts but caught the headliners, Fat Freddys Drop http://www.fatfreddysdrop.com/home.html. Who were pretty good but eh, I wouldn't buy their CD. We left about 8pm and had dinner in the mall at Queenstown at a place called (I think) the Captain's Table.

Next day, we were off to Dunedin. I had planned to go through St Bathans http://www.newzealand.com/travel/sights-activities/scenic-highlights/history-culture/sh-st-bathans-haunted-pub.cfm but, in keeping with the theme, we went the wrong way.

We did fetch up in Dunedin eventually, landing at my friend's about 5pm. Next day, J went home; after dropping me off at the University Bookshop _ a favourite haunt from my student days and still one of my favourite bookshops. I bought Alan Lee's LOTR Sketchbook and also One Hundred Years of Solitude and Memories of My Melancholy Whores, both by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The former is one of my favourite books, that I had loaned to a friend and never saw again and the latter is Marquez's latest. I haven't read it yet though.

From there, it was a 20 minute walk to the Rialto cinema and Capote. Then lunch and back to the theatre for Brokeback Mountain (note to self ... write reviews).

Next day, I was co-opted by my friend for a wander around South Dunedin with her and her mother, who was staying. Then, on Wednesday, back to the movies for Good Night, And Good Luck and then local offering The World's Fastest Indian (more reviews ...)

I went home on the bus (which ran 30min late) the next day with $1.45 in my wallet. Nothing much to say about that trip except the weather was terrible.

Been home since and I'm looking forward to my second week off. Woo hoo, as I said.