Kat's Journal

I went to see the One Man Star Wars show tonight with a friend and it was awesome!!! If you haven't seen it, well... you're too late actually. This was the last year he'll be doing it (well, on a regular basis anyway, I'm sure he's likely to do it one special occasions etc). He's moving on to the One Man Lord of the Rings show, which looks like it'll be equally awesome.

I'm not going to bother describing it here (either show since we got a tiny sneak peek of the LotR show) because it's really a visual thing but boy, did he capture the whiny-ness of Luke and his Jabba the Hutt was hysterically funny.

All in all a good night and we're organising to go and see Ross Noble next April!

It's 5.48am and it's 30C. No fair, weather. That's just not on.

I have no real reason for this post other than to use this icon. The Equaliser was one of my favourite TV shows when I was a kid and I have to say that the line "Shoot straight, ya bastards" from Breaker Morant still makes me snicker.

It's been 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell. That's just... wow. I can't believe it's been so long. It's stuff like this that tends to make me feel old more than anything else because I remember this. I watched it on the TV. I marvelled at it and watched my parents be so happy because they went to West Germany when they were first married and now there wasn't going to be a West Germany or an East Germany, just Germany.

Now I work at a school full of kids who are so young that the only reason they know a wall once stood between East and West Germany and people did the most amazing and tragic things to try and get from east to west is from history books.

After a discussion with a friend today, I made scones for dinner. Scones with raspberry jam and cream. Yum. They weren't perfect. I think I need to reduce the cooking time a bit but not bad for a first effort with this oven.

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Also... gratuitous kitty pic spam...

( Carys! )

10464 / 50000 words. 21% done!

It's been a profitable long weekend in NaNo terms. I was hoping to get to 10,000 words and I have so that's a good basis to build on during all the usual dross of work and my upcoming exam. The story's going well enough though I've hit some weaker points, over all it's coming along nicely. My main character has turned out to be... not the person I was planning it to be but I'm liking it this way anyway. And the banter/flirting between him and his partner (they're detectives) is amusing me.

Onwards and upwards!

Tweets ahoy!

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I am involved in another saga. My mobile phone is in my mother's name so I can get the groovy deal she can access - basically I rarely pay more than $10-$15 a month. Because the account is in her name but I have the phone, she had me put on the account as having full authority and access at deal with things. Makes sense, right? Of course it does.

Well, recently my phone company shifted over to a new whizzbang, nifty, shiny system that was supposed to make things easier, simpler and quicker. All I can say is... Hmmmmm.

The saga started with the latest bill. Mum gets the email so she just forwards it on to me. I went to log into the shiny new system with the new account number and using the password (my mother's birthdate) they said I should use. No dice. I try it with the user name they gave us. No dice. I email Mum, thinking that maybe I've got her birthdate mixed up since she was born the day after her Dad's birthday so I do occasionally get them mixed up. Nope, I had it right. I try again. Doesn't work. I ask Mum to try. She does then tries again and whoops, we've tried too many times and the account is blocked.

Okay, fair enough. I've got the BPay details so I'll put about $15 on it so the bill is paid and call them up to sort it out. So I call tonight. I navigate the press-a-button directory and end up talking to a person (who is clearly in India so my Mum is actually closer to the call centre than I am). I go through the process and inform him of my name and my Mum's name and that I have full authority. He can't find it. He tries a second way and still can't find it. The department that deals with old accounts isn't in at this time of the day so I have to call back tomorrow.

Now... maybe I'm just being naive but if you're transferring information from your old system to your new system, wouldn't it make sense to ensure all of the relevant information from the old system is transferred across including the names of people who have legitimate authority to deal with the account? You know, so that when they call up they can... deal with the account instead of getting stroppy with you.

Tweets ahoy!

( Read if you want otherwise... scroll on!! )

Tweets ahoy!

( Read if you want otherwise... scroll on!! )

Tweets ahoy!

( Read if you want otherwise... scroll on!! )

Well now, that's annoying. The on/off button on my computer has broken. I've had to undo the whole thing to pull it out so I can fiddle with it and start it. I should take it back to the shop and say "Well? *tap, tap, tap*" because I'm fairly sure that part should be a bit more robust than what it's proven to be but... the shop's in Elsternwick and I'm in Thornbury and while it's on the 246 bus route, it's a big tower and it's heavy and dragging it around on public transport is just not going to happen.

Any suggestions to how fix it on my own/offers to drive me to the shop? (Yes, I am shamelessly begging there. Feel free to say no. :D )

I love that they report this like it's actually news. It's not news. It's common knowledge. I get on the 112 early enough in the morning that it's not too bad but in the afternoon it's not uncommon for me to have to let 2,3 or even 4 trams go past before one comes along that I can actually get on.

And let's not even start on the lack of air-conditioning. It baffles me how, nearly ten years into the 21st century, we're still enduring trams without air-conditioning as though we were still living in the 19th Century. You may think I'm over-reacting there but last year I got on a tram on one of those 40C+ days - when I got off the tram, that 40C+ day actually felt cool. It was probably a good 10 degrees hotter in the tram, if not more.

Tweets ahoy!

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ABC are showing QI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



It's about damn time. And rather ridiculously they're starting from the first official episode in the most recent season (series F) instead of starting from the beginning of Series A.

But that doesn't matter. They're finally showing it. ABC, Tuesday, 9.30pm for those in Australia. Watch it! Watch it! Watch it! It's got Stephen Fry and assorted guests, including regular Alan Davies of Jonathon Creek fame. It's funny, witty, intelligent and doesn't assume the audience are idiots. (And the series they're showing has a episode with John Sessions doing the most devastatingly, hilariously accurate impression of Alan Rickman you'll ever see.)

Tweets ahoy!

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Watching my kitty try and catch flies is an exercise in hilarity. She leaps all over the place making silly little mrrping noises. This is going to make summer, especially down at Merricks, hilarious.

Tweets ahoy!

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Name a TV show series in which you have seen every episode at least twice: Well, this is seen most or every episode of what I have - Mythbusters, Top Gear, CSI: NY, Supernatural, The West Wing, Criminal Minds, Midsomer Murders, House, Blackadder, Lie To Me, Doctor Who (old Who, I've only watched a few eps more than once of new Who), Torchwood, The Young Ones, Police Rescue, QI, The X-Files
Name a show you can’t miss: Top Gear, QI
Name an actor that would make you more inclined to watch a show: None really. I can like an actor but if I hate the show, just liking the actor isn't going to make me watch it. There's only ever been one exception to that.
Name an actor who would make you less likely to watch a show: None in particular. I don't read/listen/watch gossip shows/magazines etc and I don't judge an actor/actress by the roles they play so I can't really say I dislike any actor or actress enough to not watch a TV show
Name a show you can, and do, quote from: Top Gear, Mythbusters
Name a show you like that no one else enjoys: Midsomer Murders (at least among those my age)
Name a TV show which you’ve been known to sing the theme song: Any number of them but The Young Ones in particular since it's a Cliff Richard song
Name a show you would recommend everyone to watch: Midsomer Murders - fun, doesn't feel the need to pepper the show with profanity or sex to prove they're 'cool' and they have *gasp* extras and actors who look like real people and not just all pretty-pretty and plastic
Name a TV series you own: Top Gear, Mythbusters, CSI: NY, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Midsomer Murders, The X-Files, Supernatural and a few others
What is your favourite episode of your favourite series? The Polar Special - Top Gear
Name a show you keep meaning to watch, but you just haven’t gotten around to yet: I have a few but I can't remember which ones off the top of my head
Ever quit watching a show because it was so bad? Yes, Earth 2 and Bones. Okay, I stuck with Earth 2 longer than I intended because it had Tim Curry in it. Tim Curry!!!! But I dumped Bones within about three episodes.
Name a show you aren't interested in watching, not in the least: Glee, Merlin, any show set in a high school, any reality show, any 90210/Melrose clone and boy, have there been plenty of those
Name a show that’s made you cry multiple times: None really
Oldest TV show you like? Doctor Who since I like the first Doctor's stuff
Newest TV show you like? Flash Forward... maybe. Depends how it pans out.
What do you eat when you watch TV? Whatever I feel like
How often do you watch TV? Every day
Do you have a favorite talk show? Well, if you define something like Top Gear, QI or Hey, Hey, It's Saturday as a talk show then it'd be one of those otherwise none
What’s the last TV show you watched? Mythbusters
What’s your favourite/preferred genre of TV? Drama/crime
What's your least favourite genre of TV? Reality TV. Horrible.
What was the first TV show you were obsessed with? Doctor Who, The Goodies, The Kenny Everett Video Show, Twin Peaks
What TV show do you wish you never watched? Earth 2. Really appalling show. Preachy and illogical with horrible characters. I only held on because of Tim Curry. As soon as they killed his character I stopped watching
What’s the weirdest show you enjoyed? Apparently Midsomer Murders.
What TV show scared you the most? None. I'm not easily scared. Doctor Who had it's moments when I was a kid but even then it wasn't really scary, it was more the surprise factor
What is the funniest TV show you have ever watched? Top Gear, QI, Mythbusters, Blackadder, The Young Ones

Finally starting to feel a bit better. I spent all of yesterday (ten hours - 7am to 5pm) on my feet and boy did I pay for that today. Woke up feeling tired, achy, headachy and a bit nauseous. I managed to keep most of that under control during the day with applications of caffeine and painkillers but by the time 4pm and early home time rolled around I was feeling like shit - the aches had faded a bit but the headaches and the nausea were back with a vengeance. Trust me, riding home on public transport feeling like that is not fun, especially when they've got the heating on. Okay, I'll grant you it's cool enough today to warrant it but I would much rather have had the cool air from outside than the warmth.

The nausea is all but gone now and so are the headaches. Still a bit achy but I guess that's to be expected. Hell, I expected the aches. I just didn't expect the rest of it, especially the nausea. Guess I overdid it a bit. Hopefully a good night's sleep tonight will take care of the rest of it and I'll be back as good as new tomorrow.