skimming milk

Merry Christmas

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 13:28:20 GMT

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, 'ere he drove out of sight,
"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

a joyful, food-full, memorable Christmas to all of you!

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 13:18:53 GMT

ha - today Dad was mowing in the backyard, on his ride-on, and finished up unable to find his phone.

"perhaps it was that noise that I heard." he said, and I thought he was joking.

when I got back from orange and bread and cheese last minute christmas shopping this is what awaited me at the front door:

He found it - spread across about 20 feet of lawn, and there must still be chunks out there. namely - the SIM card! which, if we can find it, may well still be in 1 piece.

it's so hot here atm - and humid and still. I took soth (part dog, part bus shelter hobo) walking to the video shop to drop off some rentals and she needed 5 minutely wash downs from my water bottle on the way back and sprinted between shady spots where she would pass out. It was about 33C out at the time. A few hours later it hit core body temperature and I snuggled up in my fridge with frosty-fruits.

Apparently, I don't just burn to a crisp! *shows off burgeoning tan with pride*

I baked gingerbread cookies :) which have been mostly chomped now. The plan was a gingerbread mountain with gingerbread goats on the top of white peaks of icing, but the heat just conked me out. Next year!

the tradition goes back a few years now of architectural challenges in ginger. last year was phantom of the opera:

that was shortly after the vaulted ceiling cracked off and knocked phantom's head in two - requiring plastic surgery of extra icing and clandestine toothpicks.

that piano was a thing of beauty.

land of the long, white cloud

Fri, 23 Dec 2005 12:20:04 GMT

New Zealand trip

huzzah - have returned alive and exhausted and without any skin on my heels after a few wonderful days of hiking. I went with my dad, sister, her hubby and our guide, H, through Mt Aspiring national park and up to the base of Rabbit Pass and back and around to the glacial lakes.
we started at Wanaka - a sweet town on the side of a massive lake that feels like such a ski town - a little bit underpopulated, and a stack of random accents, and tourist shops and sportswear and a liquor store and restaurants and then sleepy suburbs. W's next to the Mt Aspiring national park, which is where we were trekking.
we took a light plane about 10 mins up into the valley, and hiked up to twin forks hut. from there we packed on some tents, from the very secret hiding place of the guides (a challenge, eh?), and then continued up the mountainside.

we camped next to 'disappearing lake'. (see pic above) which forms with glacial runoff and snowmelt and then dries up with the ongoing summer - forming those cracks, which stay preserved under the next year's runoff.

the guy in with the purple pack's our guide - H. Mmm. Long-limbs, and tanned, and lithe and yummy smile. Nice guy too and naughty sense of humour. I spent many hours trekking behind him - and that NZ scenery is fan-bloody-tastic. What's the male equivalent for yummy mummy..? Hotter than Lacoste. Oh, and he can cook too.
[I managed to get a pervy photo down his half-unbuttoned top when there was a Kea (native NZ bird, very smart at bilking stuff out of tourists, endangered) in the line of the shot - but it's on my sister's camera and don't have it to share - dammit. ;) ]

beautiful flowers none of us could identify. anyone? they have a weird spiral thing going on.
oh - and apparently, if you're a guide and you don't know the answer to someone's question, just pull an answer out of your arse and no one will know.
australia has 9 of the top 10 world's venomous snakes. new zealand = 0. this didn't stop H telling us to beware the grass adder when we were trekking on the grassy plane.
"Have you ever been in a party when anyone was bitten?" - me.
"Oh no - they take out every member in the party. One after the other."- H
"Oh - so no one knows what they look like?" *I am rewarded with great big grin*
"There's rumours that they're spotted."

this pretty glacial lake:

is damn cold.
this shot's about 20 minutes before H manages to convince me and my bro-in-law that someone needs to dive in this lake or we'll ruin his perfect record of convincincing his groups to jump in.
for some reason, dipping myself under wasn't enough either. My bro-in-law stepped off a rock and sank down and then quickly climbed back onto that rock. I cannonballed from a rock further out and - unholy fuckin' cold - scrabbled like a hyena to the shore just as the sun disappeared behind a bloody great big cloud. stupid, stupid hiker.

the photographic proof that i launched myself in there is not very flattering. my face is contorted in screams of vengeance and disbelief.

never trust H. *hisses*
oh - this was the view from the drop toilet at the huts on the 3rd night:

awwww! (lucky we have yet to invent smellable photos)
and... on the 2nd last day we found an ice cave and clambered up through it to pop out the other side

there's bro-in-law clutching his camera and possibly his groin.
the whole trip was soooo good :) highly highly recommend.
went to sleep with the sound of crunchy avalanches, and saw some dots on distant peaks which were allegedly mountain goats, and snow melt rivers are tastiest fluid in the world, and beech strawberries are a fungal blob which drops off a tree and are edible but not great. managed to wrangle out the LOTR connection with our native guide too (his brother reassembled fake trees from real tree bits with his tree surgeon degree.)
we played a lot of cards too - so grab several packs before you go, and learn Bartog. Although - some very attractive man in the south island may now be very prepared to teach you it, by candlelight, over custard with choc chips and 'surprise tea'.

So PURTY! Go. Go now!

I walked up stairs before and it felt so easy. *bounce bounce bounce*

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 19:12:52 GMT

Cedric Diggory...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/roz_mcclure/626622.html

(brilliant, if you haven't already read)

Newell directing. "Now, remember, your motivation is that you're very very gay. See that treeful of parakeets over there?"
Robert: "The ones huffing the nitrous oxide?"
Newell: "Yes. You're gayer than that."

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:33:11 GMT

"tannest mutant, baby.

... and it comes in a bottle!"

ahh. I love Scrubs. :)

Mon, 05 Dec 2005 07:28:44 GMT

ahh, ninemsn. I see you're going with another controversial, hardhitting, divisive poll for your readers (i.e. those trapped by their ISPs to be logged out of hotmail onto your page):

"Should anyone suspected of war crimes be given temporary Australian visas?"

oh.. well... on the one hand - they probably shouldn't; but on the other - I must be a flaming jackass.

*votes yes*
and there's 3471 other readers as irritated by the inanity of the 'poll' as I am. :) *hugs*

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 12:06:35 GMT

ooh - and I got a pasticceria ciccolata (or however spelt) for dessert. *drools*
short bread husk surrounding a chocolate-custard interior.

num num maaaanummm.

*cradles doggy bag lovingly* once i digest more dinner, you will be mine once more.

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 11:47:37 GMT

I've just been catching up with my Best FriendTM - the lovely girl who i see maybe twice a year at the moment - the problem with living in different cities. (Hee - people never actually change, I am affirmed of every time I see she's the exact same grade 4er I met) and she's agreed to go to PERU next year! whoo! we'll trek to the awesome ruins and swap anti-diarrhoeal pills and nurse eachother through cholera and clutch our lonely planets in desperation as we barter for food.

This also means I'll actually have to follow through and plan this. but on the bright side I am assured of having a safety friend when i go over and meet up to travel with my other friend S and her boyfriend G (who is actually a male version of me - in a flattering but disconcerting twist) - so as to avoid the dreaded 3rd wheel phenom.

I don't know what it is when I'm with those 2 only - there doesn't seem to be a way of us having a 3 person conversation - it's always a 2 person and 1 person audience. The 2 people having the conversation varies so we all have a turn, it's just that we don't work in triconversationality at all.

.... PERU! *huzzah*

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 05:31:34 GMT

well now I want to take the mano-a-scorpion nakey sex picture below, trim the bottom of its AIDS banner, add some mutton chops and post it to wolverinerogue list as "X3 spoiler - new love interest for Logan".

must. resist. urge.

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 04:35:16 GMT

all i want for Christmas...

Sun, 04 Dec 2005 00:41:45 GMT

exams: 1 down, 3 to go. first one seemed to go well, though a bit rushed at times. it was stations with actors roleplaying patients and doctors asking questions (so many many questions.) I froze in one station after I'd asked all the questions I needed to to work out that the woman's child was severely developmentally delayed... (as the instructions were to find out about that) and the examiner smiled at me and said, "don't worry - time's almost up."

It's a little frustrating that we get tested on memory what any real paediatrician would be able to look up - i.e. refer to the great big Denver II developmental checklist. We students think an accurate examination of how good we'd be would include letting us carry our oxford clinical handbook, mims drug guide *and* the ability to phone a friend. :)

so I'm studying now... kind of... and fighting back urge to go see Domino (only came out here on thurs). tomorrow's exam is written - which I love much more than being put in a room, told to perform and judged like a poodle.

my friend sent me these pics of a French AIDS campaign:

effective..?

...or clever way of introducing arachnid porn to the masses?

Wed, 30 Nov 2005 08:44:16 GMT

with 3 days of revision lectures and a 3 hour break today i scooted home for nappage... only to have a bagpipe player in the alley under my window.

what the hell is a bagpipe doing in my alley? it's not even a regulation school instrument, or a money-raking busking device.. well, the alley's a deadend for busking anyway as the large garbage bins harbour only unpaying fans.

considered leaning out the window, "Oy! It's 2pm - people are trying to sleep!"
but then I thought... if I were a wee bonny bagpiper.. on a such a pretty day... in such a dank alley.. I may not respond appreciatively to that. So I closed my eyes and wedged socks around the window frame and thought of the green green hills of the motherland.

now i am back from paediatric dermatology, and a fluids lecture from a man who J and I worked out was a mix of scottish, australian and apparently watches Africaan movies some weekends. study time. *sad sigh*

mmm... 'common people' *scootches up volume*

now for a succulent dinner of leftover avocado and fresh corn chips. nacho flavour!

Sat, 26 Nov 2005 10:06:29 GMT

urgh, I'm watching Anacondas 2... again...

but in my defense:

if only 'Spartan' could come on... then I could pretend it wasn't entirely lust-inspired viewing.

*squishies Johnnymuse*

Sat, 26 Nov 2005 09:22:39 GMT

hee! my guitar teacher has a band! that has an online site

*has been googling*

i've been taking group guitar lessons with an unnaturally perky teacher who reminds me greatly of watching Playschool - but this may be compounded by the childlike feeling that comes from being the only person under 30 in the room.

also - it seems - i'm the only one who practices. : ( we were going to learn Wish You Were Here riffs and took 15mins on the C major scale instead. but he's into teaching us how to teach ourselves -- as though I haven't had enough of that in the new medicine course structure.

every now and then he gets bored and does impressive, showy and utterly-out-of-our-'advanced beginners class'-reach and we applaud dryly with our eyes, and simmer in envy. hehe - he's been on Neighbours! oh, googling randomnly seems to have paid off for once.

<-- abnormally happy man.

mmm, geoffrey rush is onscreen talking slowly. it's got an ozzy-osbourne lilt to it. and i thought that was part of his peter sellers' impression... but it may be early stages of neurodegenerative disease.

hey - he's in pirates 2! huh... thought his having died in the first one would put a damper on that.

gah. slap me. must study.

Fri, 25 Nov 2005 23:07:10 GMT

I have wiped the dust from my feet and left the quaint country town of conscription for the past year and a half. No more lack of public transport and walking 40 mins to the hospital when no one can drive you in. No more caving to the whim of an admin based 3 1/2 hours away - who can take a month and a half getting back to you on your urgent request and give you 4 days to get back to them when they decide to change where you're spending the entire next year. No more spending 24 hours a day with the same 5 people until you feel a swell of irrational, visceral disgust at how incredibly boring [___] can be. And access to a CD store that might actually have Bright Eyes, let alone Bowie.

N'er to return to medical bootcamp that was student life for all that time.

*cries with joy*

sweet sweet city... *hugs a skyscraper*

...now... let us never speak of this again.

apple-tini please, easy on the tini.

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 12:27:18 GMT

I should not watch 'House'.
It only makes me laugh in the bad way.

I can't even enjoy his sarc like I can Dr Cox's - for inability to see past gross incompetence and noncaring of dramatic side-stories. :(

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 08:41:27 GMT

I thought they were seeded grapes... but no seeds! *is happy*

just me, or who does that look like to you? --->

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 07:41:43 GMT

*stretch* just spent an hour btw a woman's legs and now feeling awfully hungry. that's also the exact place D managed to faint 3 weeks back - but thankfully not *into* the sterile field.

good day overall - much time spent chatting with meh Dean, got some Christmas wrapping, gynae clinic more interesting than expected, and then the emergency surgery this afternoon where I was official uterus-positioner!

*toddles off to find snack*

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 21:58:08 GMT

today is... paediatric surg day.
going to revise intussusception, appendicitis and inguinal hernias... before I have to trot to gynae clinic this afternoon.

i only have to endure obs/gynae for another 3 days!
*is happy*
if i have to go to one more antenatal clinic, I will start illustrating my 'a monkey could do this' mantra by hiring a costume, studying Planet of the Apes and performing symphiso-fundal heights crying "OOooo,ooooo, eeee, EEE!" and stopping halfway to beat my chest and eat a banana.

i was so desperate to not be doing gynae yesterday that when a baby came along with the woman in clinic i started testing its 2 month development milestones (very cute smiler, btw. not great fix and follow.) and asked the gynaecologist, "when's erythema toxicum disappear by?" to which he blankly shrugged and, mentally, I could see him pointing to his certificates of obstetrics on the wall and saying, "This means I no longer have to care what happens after it comes *out* of the woman!"

too many girl parts. :(

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 06:13:08 GMT

mmph.

have just ordered The Fountain graphic novel... after feeling *covetcovetcovet* urge on reading Lady T has it. I skulked through the aisles of minotaur (local cult-geek emporium) this morning with no success... although with strong urge to buy a corpse bride figurine... but then - I haven't even found a place for Wolvie and the Nazgul yet.

i really should've just asked the counter guy... but I didn't. tsk. felt a mannish sort of "if it's a properly laid out store, there need be no customer-employee interaction, dammit!"

my crestfallen stare at the 'media' section - full only of batman and spiderman and sin city novels clearly wasn't enough.

did get a book out of the hike though - Sheri Tepper's Plague of Angels.

and I really like the word 'illicit'... hee... illlll-isss-sit.

urgh. liquid sherbet and taurine is now starting to exhibit an effect.

*clutches at her diaphragm*
... that being the one under my lungs, not a contraceptive device.

Mon, 21 Nov 2005 05:40:51 GMT

*is testing Red Bull's 2-cans/day-at-max theory*

... no, nothing yet. *sips more*

fountain

Thu, 17 Nov 2005 06:40:53 GMT

from 'the fountain' trailer -- avatar fodder:

screencaps at meh photobucket

(<-- is the general idea. am too tired to make pretty avs with the caps)

hughie finds out that sometimes, you can't have your mister matey.

"but I don't wanna join Midnight Oil"

"I have seen the future."

and more. to be used for avatars etc.

Mon, 02 May 2005 14:07:46 GMT

oop - forgot one:

Mon, 02 May 2005 13:22:01 GMT

inspired by viewoftheworld and her icon prowess... i've traded time on study for some serious iconaging...

all open for taking:

ICONS

faces
     1      2      3

     4      5

(famous) faces
     6      7      8

a teensy weird....
     9    10

   11     12    13

frankie
   14     15

movie: Leon
16 17 18

movie: Love Me If You Dare
19 20 21

WRer at heart...
22 23 24

bodies
25 26 27

Nay, do not meddle with the dressing!

Mon, 02 May 2005 09:40:45 GMT

ooch. my elbow is sore :( it feels like they've inverted a vein or something. deep pinch with every bend, alas... but the blood service gave me a keyring, and cheese & crackers - so it all worked out in the end! Huzzah!

Foxtel's spamming Hugh ad-age atm - with an ad featuring 3 of him at once, bickering over which channel to watch and who has to get the phone. Ahh, it's sweet to be a Foxtel subscriber.

Unfortunately it does have ill consequences at times... This weekend, while studying of course (hah..), I caught the 'movie classics' channel with Warlock screening! Haha. Classic B-grade! ..so not a bad consequence, but it did set off an insatiable urge to feast on Warlock fanfic. Insatiable because there is no Warlock fanfic. None. Whatsoever... at least none that I could find past scrolling through Google's outpouring of 'Charmed' fanfic from my seach "Warlock" + "fanfiction". Adding sands brought up desert-set stories. Minusing 'charmed' let the Harry Potter archives float to the top...

so with no warlock fanfic... I set about writing my own. And that lasted for about 2 hours while the voices in my head said, "There's just not enouch warlock fanfic in the world, dammit!" And then it occurred to me that I have so much more worthwhile thigns I *should* do with my life. Does anyone else feel a need/desire/embarrassed yearning for Warlock fanfic...? And where can I find it..?

because.. I still agree with there not being enough Warlock fanfic in this world... probably because it was released and cultish before internet, and hence internet fanfic, really took off. But it's so damn worth it! Just not enough that I can write it... mph. *is torn*

oh - Real Life

2 parties in one weekend.. yegads... I don't have that kind of stamina. 2x 21st, 9x21st speeches, 5.5x cake slices eaten (5 on the first night, 0.5 on the next... melon balls on cake? eh?!) good fun had by all... after I worked out 5 mins standing in a service elevator next to a full wheely bin that it *wasn't* the correct entrance to the club. Talked to a bizarre girl who was interestingly open, congratulated me on seeming balanced, and we had a nice convo about the merits of underwear and tomato sauce and many other things.

Mmm, colorectal cancer time? orrr.. icon time?! view's inspired me. icon's it is.

*squees hair*