the harshest critic is always yourself

keyl — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 09:13:13 GMT

Tell me, why does LJ only let me skip back 40 entries on my friends page now?

That's more than slightly rubbish.

It's 11:25pm and all's well.

keyl — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 12:27:48 GMT

Newsflash: Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

I'll follow that up with something more witty and insightful when I don't have a French final tomorrow morning.

Archiving 6 years of my life.

keyl — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:44:56 GMT

I just made private 6 years of entries, from 2001 (when I started this journal) to the beginning of 2007. I'm not denying my years of mid-twenties angst (hell, I'm sure I'm still there), but no one but me really needs to read that shit, do they?

keyl — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:45:16 GMT

Have you read any good Spanish or French language books, or seen any good movies in those languages? I'm trying to get my comprehension better before my finals and am looking for something interesting to immerse myself in.

Please, please, pretty please. I'd be ever so grateful.

Just in time for Hallowe'en...

keyl — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:24:25 GMT

I'm totally curious as to how much people believe, and how much it'd affect or hinder them.

View Poll: Now with extra woowoo...

Personally, I'm undecided. I believe in ghosts, but don't believe that every instance of a "ghost" is actually a ghost - most of it's probably easily explained away by more mundane stuff. I'd be fascinated to see a real haunted house or hotel, and I'm fascinated by haunted hotel stories [I'll admit to being a bit of a Ghost Hunters fan back in the day], but I'm not sure I'd really be game to stay there... and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't buy a supposedly haunted house. I've had enough of a stressful home-life to feel that home should be a sanctuary, a place of rest... and I don't think a ghost would be that restful.

Hell, I'm not even a fan of housemates.

keyl — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:09:29 GMT

Is it just me, or does mojito-style sorbet sound fantastic?

Yes, this is a post about the weather.

keyl — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 21:17:29 GMT

I didn't mention this on the day, but on Saturday it was 31°C here. That, for my Fahrenheit-inclined American friends, is 87.8°F.

Saturday was the 13th of September, which means 13 days since Spring "started", and we're not even at the Spring Equinox yet... and it's nearly 88 degrees. The week before was less than 15°C during the day (which is, what, 50s?), and rainy and windy... and then it jumps to that. For what it's worth, we had such a mild (read: boring and cold and grey) Summer here that 31°C is the same as the hottest day we had in Summer this year, on January 18. And we're getting the recap in September?

Today, it was 17°C before 0700, and it's forecast to be 27°C before the day's out (that's 81-ish Fahrenheit). My university's some way from home, and thus the weather is usually +2 degrees in Summer, and -2 degrees in Winter from what it is for me at home. So it'll be pushing 30 two days in the month already, and we're only halfway through.

The weather's insane, I tell you, and what's more insane is that someone, sometime, somewhere down the track, is going to read this and think that this insanity is completely normal, because they're used to the weather being so erratic.

keyl — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:17:45 GMT

Do you have a spare afternoon and can get to Dorset?

Because the Giant Penis Man needs rechalking.

(Work-safe, via cmpriest)

Election-centric

keyl — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:52:36 GMT

Sometimes, I wish I was an United States citizen, so that I could vote in the upcoming elections.

You know what I find fascinating, though? What's reported, and more importantly, what's not reported on the news in Australia with regards to the US elections.

For example: Last night's news on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) was about how Barack Obama made a veiled reference to Sarah Palin with his "lipstick on a bulldog" comment, and then spoke of how John McCain used the same comment with regards to Hilary Clinton. Overwhelmingly, though, it focussed on Obama, and thus portrayed him in a bit of a bad light.

Not mentioned so far on the ABC's news are:

Suppression of possible dissidents in Minnesota

That Sarah Palin's youngest child might actually be her daughter's

That Republicans in Macomb County Michigan are trying to stop people who've been served foreclosure notices on their homes (predominantly African-American Democrats) from voting

...and more!

Now I usually consider the ABC to be less sensationalist than commercial television news, and relatively impartial - almost as impartial as SBS's news. But the disparity between what's reported on our news and what I read about (mostly from your blogs, people) is alarming, not because we can actually influence the results of the election, but rather that whomever is elected to be President in the United States is someone that our country is going to have to deal with for the next four (or possibly eight) years. We need to know what they're like, what dirty laundry comes to light in this election and what they say about their opponents, what their tactics are and what their policies are. We, the people of Australia, don't deal with them directly, but our Prime Minister and his government will, and how he deals with them and what kind of people they are is one of the ways that we hold our government to account.

See John Howard's sycophantic fawning over George W. Bush.

Now I'm not saying that our news should be all US elections, all the time. Luckily, those of us with a brain will be able to search the internet and pay attention and get our information from various sources (with various reliability), and take it all with a grain of salt. But those of us the Australian public who voted John Howard back in 2004 or whenever it was because he "helped keep the interest rates on our mortgage down" probably won't have the presence of mind to research this stuff and inform themselves.

And the Australian public should be informed.

I'd love to know what's being reported is being reported, and why what's not, isn't.

keyl — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:45:32 GMT

There should be a special portion of hell reserved for people who park their cars outside your house at 5am with their stereos blaring. Especially when your windows are shut, their windows are shut, and you factor earplugs into the equation. It's just not right.

I have no idea if they're doing it on purpose, or if they just don't realise. I'm thinking about leaving a note on their windscreen (very politely, I don't think passive-aggressive BS will get me anywhere), as they may just not know that their doof-doof really is that loud.

I mean, come on. If you have to be at work at that hour, that really sucks... but we don't all have to join in, you know?

In other news, I have the opportunity to go to Buenos Aires for four weeks' exchange in January, and whilst the cost of living and exchange rate is in my favour, the price of plane tickets is not (in excess of $3K to go at that time of year). Conversely, I have the opportunity to go study in Alcalá de Henares, just outside of Madrid, but whilst the airfare is cheaper (than to Buenos Aires), the cost of living (especially when factoring in the Euro) is threatening to rule that out too.

Of course, I have to decide this week if I want to be able to apply for a grant from the university to go.

*sigh*

I'm cravin' somethin', I just don't know what.

keyl — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 04:57:36 GMT

View Poll: It's like cake vs pie, but different.

And, you know, if you have an awesome cookie/brownie/something else recipe that you'd be kind enough to share, I'd be stoked. I'm debating making something this afternoon, when I take a break from furniture-moving.

keyl — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:18:05 GMT

I hate living with a smoker.

I fucking stink.

¿Las películas españolas?

keyl — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 05:03:32 GMT

I'll make this brief as I have a paper to write and exams to study for, but can anyone recommend any good Spanish-language films? Especially Science Fiction or Action or something, or even a good dubbed version of an English-language film, I guess.

I'm trying to get used to listening to people speaking Spanish, which is remarkably difficult in Sydney. Yet another time it'd be useful to live somewhere like SoCal.

Cheers!

(Having just finished a 2 hour French final, my head's a little wacky, so forgive me if my Spanish ain't coming out so good. Me English neither.)

keyl — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:10:36 GMT

Interesting tidbit I discovered today:

Crush your foot between the door of the shower and the tile block that supports it, and you can't even swear it hurts so much. All you can do is just whimper and watch your foot swell up with a goose-egg so large you can't put your shoes on without nearly screaming in pain.

On the plus side, the arch of my foot is now almost black. I say this as a plus, because lately, it's seemed like I'm faking it when all of my injuries don't come up as bruises because they're buried too deeply (see: right forearm at Smashing Pumpkins concert, collision of just below right knee and wooden bedframe, right elbow into doorframe yesterday morning, left shin into bookcase the other night).

And nobody likes a faker.

Now's the time.

keyl — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 14:11:30 GMT

Calling all Battlestar Galactica fans:

With four of the Final Five Cylons revealed, one remains incognito. The team at BSG have said that the final Cylon has already been determined, and clues have been left as to its identity.

As we begin Season 4, who do you think it is, and why?

My opinion? I'm leaning towards Laura Roslin. It may seem like an obvious-ish choice, but having the President of the Colonies be a Cylon would be pretty undermining, and she is all up with the visions and compulsions - just like Tyrol when he found the Temple of Five. She's having shared visions with Sharon Agathon and Caprica Six about Hera, and that headache of hers as the power goes out across the fleet simultaneously seems pretty significant. Her faith in the Gods and the scrolls of Pithea (sp?) are as strong as the Cylons' is in their one true God.

It could also be Starbuck, though that too seems a bit obvious. However, the visions of Leoben she had when she blacked out seem fairly important, even if he said he's not who she thinks he is - he also made reference to the place between life and death, a place D'Anna Biers mentioned where she saw the Final Five, but somewhere Kara can't have known about. Her last words to Lee over the communications system before her ship exploded were "They're waiting for me", and, come on, her ship exploded in front of Lee, she didn't eject, and suddenly shows up in a brand-new-but-otherwise-identical-and-fully-fuelled ship 2 months later with huge time-loss and no data on her flight computer except the photos of Earth? It's suspect. Socrata Thrace said she was special, maybe "special" is spelled "C-Y-L-O-N". That aside, the music Kara plays for Helo in her apartment, the music she says her father played, is eerily similar to the solo piano played when Caprica Six and Gaius Baltar are in visions inside the Opera House, with Hera. Maybe it's significant. Then again, maybe so are her drawings that resemble the Eye of Jupiter.

Although, I reckon it could also be Gaius Baltar. I know, I know, he seems to have been disproven as being a Cylon, but that could just be a red herring. The thing that gets me is that he survived that nuclear blast right at the beginning. No human could've survived that. He said that Caprica Six sheltered him from the blast, but as we've seen with both Boomer and Sharon Agathon, the "skin-job" Cylons are as soft and squishy as humans are. It's not like she's a Terminator with a metal endoskeleton, she's flesh and blood and bone - synthetic flesh and blood and bone, sure, but just as fragile on the Mohs scale as we are - they both should've died. Why is Baltar still corporeal?

Lastly, it's possible that it could be Felix Gaeta. His scuffle and whispered words with Gaius Baltar when Baltar was imprisoned are still unexplained - maybe that's a clue that there's more going on with Gaeta than first appears. Hell, I won't even be surprised if it's Ellen Tigh - after all, Baltar did say "I'll never tell" to his visions of Caprica Six when he fudged the results of his Cylon-detector test.

When D'Anna Biers sees the faces of the Final Five for the first time, she looks at one and says, "Forgive me, I didn't know". Who was she talking to? Who would she be asking forgiveness of?

You know, I'm still wondering about the Boomer and Tyrol thing. When on Caprica, Sharon mentions that Cylon-Human reproduction is a goal for the Cylons, and she and Helo say something about engineering people to fall in love with each other - as they did, and, I assume, as Anders and Starbuck did. If that's so, what was up with Boomer and Tyrol being together for so long, if they were both Cylons [even if neither knew it and they're of two different "groups"]? Was that some fluke, because the Cylons didn't know Tyrol was one of them? Who the hell engineered this stuff, anyway?

What do you think's going on?

Now I know why you do it. You do it because it makes you feel alive.

keyl — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:09:48 GMT

I'm going to be a black and blue bunny tomorrow. [This is very different to the brown bunny, trust me.] I'm already hoarse and enduring the pressure in my head that lets me know I've been rendered close to deaf [the ear ringing will come when all's quiet], but I'll have to wait till tomorrow for the bruises to show.

Music is like a religious experience for me, one best savoured on my own where I can act without thought and let the emotions and energy crash over me like some kind of orgasmic surf.

[Invite me to a concert and I will be grateful, but I may just turn you down (and even possibly go alone). Somehow it's okay to orgasm in front of complete strangers, but not in front of your friends.]

One of my first memories* of the Smashing Pumpkins' music is from Chemistry class, when I realised for the first time that although to me music was a very private, sacred, treasured thing, it could also be a unifying force. In Chemistry I realised that, believe it or not, other people might actually not just like the same music as I do, but feel as passionate about it as I did. To me this was a revelation, about as startling as realising, after 16 years of isolation, that there were other people in the world breathing the same air as me.

[* My very first memory is hearing "Disarm" on the radio, and seeing the video on TV. I bought the cassingle when I was 13, and I remember monsterpea's brother had the poster for Siamese Dream on his bedroom wall.]

For this reason, if nothing else, the Smashing Pumpkins will always be very special to me. [I have also fallen in love to "Stand Inside Your Love" and later healed a broken heart with "Perfect".]

Now for some pseudo-Haiku from the interior of the Hordern Pavilion:

Crowd surfing is dangerous
It can hurt others
This activity is prohibited
And you may be evicted
From the venue.

[Line breaks theirs.]

Billy Corgan hasn't aged, not one bit. He's still funny, engaging, and I'd still like to rock his socks into next week. He can make you feel as though you're the only one in the area, the only person he's singing to, even when you're getting jostled by guys trying to start a mosh pit [hence the bruises - I'm all for moshing, but I got an elbow strike to the forearm, which hurts like the proverbial bitch]. He wasn't as uptight or stressed-seeming as he was on his solo tour, which can only be a good thing, and he even joked,

"The girls are always asking me why I don't dance. I have to tell them it's because I'd look like Peter Garrett if I did."

I've got to go to bed - I've got university [French, to be precise] in the morning. I feel so alive when I do this, however, and now I feel so at peace.

I just had to document it.

Ouch.

keyl — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 09:14:17 GMT

Holy crap.

We spent nearly $400 on textbooks today. $400.

I think I'm eating gruel for the rest of the year.

The ways in which we lack, volume 1.

keyl — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:40:16 GMT

This is a weird question, but if you were going to make the green bean casserole that's ubiquitous in America [you know the one, green beans, mushroom soup, that one], and couldn't get French fried onions, what would you use instead?

I know, crazy, huh? I've just got a craving for it, and them French fried onions just ain't available in this darn country. Not a thing we do here, it seems. I'm not even sure how to replicate them. Any suggestions?

Maybe I should include those in my upcoming post entitled "Things from America that I love that I wish I could get in Australia", or words to that effect. Except that I don't actually love them, they're just useful in this particular recipe.

I made a New Year's Resolution this year to cook one new thing every week for the year. So far, I've cooked one new thing. Yep, just one. And we're already in February. That said, it was the meatloaf to end all meatloaves, so that has to count for something. I'll just have to cook more from here on out.

I've been craving Thai food since I left Perth. I had this awesome thing called "Chicken Bamboo", which is so faux-Thai, the kind created for Westerners, but whatever, it was effing delicious. It's supposedly chicken and vegetables [bamboo, snow peas, etc] in a broth/sauce/soup made from tom yum paste and coconut milk, but it was like heaven on my tastebuds and I didn't want it to end. Kind of like the chicken schnitzel and mushroom sauce from The Firehouse in North Sydney, but, you know, more Chicken Bamboo-y. So I'm going to have to try to make it sometime, and I'll report back on the results. Now I just have to find decent tom yum paste.

Have you got any suggestions for things that are awesome and easy and tasty, and can be made without costing the Earth? I know that's a tough call, but I figure I can't be the only broke person who loves to eat.

Christmas Recap

keyl — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 11:18:03 GMT

I was up till 2:30am sewing a Christmas stocking for both of my parents. I inhaled enough cut crushed panne to create a sparkly hairball, and managed to turn my Adidas soccer shorts into something more akin to glittery, furry disco hotpants. Anyway, I filled the stockings with bits and pieces and snuck them down to the fireplace this morning. My parents were surprised and thrilled to get them this morning. I didn't get a Christmas stocking this year, though.

Instead, I got the best Christmas present ever, a day early: Sinusitis! Yay!

I've sneezed and blown my nose so much in the last 36 hours that my stomach muscles are aching. Hopefully the anti-biotics and plethora of assorted other drugs will help though.

My Christmas presents [because isn't that what everyone talks about at Christmas?] were no great surprises, but they were things I wanted/needed. A new pair of earphones, because my last pair are duct taped together and still have exposed wires; a Moleskine diary for 2008 [that I picked out at Kinokuniya some time back], a new cell phone [that my mother got in a staff sale at Nokia last week, and that I also picked out], and some chocolate-covered ginger.

In our usual style, we went to the unfortunately-named Vibe hotel in Milson's Point for Christmas lunch, which was rather tasty but lacking things like gravy, though they made up for it with amazing pavlova and their usual gorgeous Christmas puddings. Upside: No cooking, no cleaning. Downside: No leftovers.

And then I went home and took a post-Christmas-lunch nap. I had nightmares about people who were part-zombie and trying to take over the world, and now here I am.

That was Christmas.

Honestly, I hate Christmas, and wish it wouldn't come. I hate it because it has such an enticing lead-up, overall is a day much like any other for me, and then it's gone for the year, leaving the next 330 days or so to suck for another year. I usually get to Christmas Eve, and then start wishing that Christmas wouldn't come just quite yet, but inevitably it does, and then it's over. Insightful, no?

And to think, I used to hate Christmas...

P.S. Christmas in Sydney is meant to be all sun, surf, beaches, and barbecues. Instead, this year has been 80% humidity or more, thunderstorms, rain, and hail. Today was 19°C, cool, overcast, and grey. Some Christmas.

keyl — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 12:44:36 GMT

For those who don't know...

John Howard, leader of the Liberal Party, staunch Bush ally - voted out after eleven and a half years as Prime Minister of Australia.

I'm not 100% thrilled with the new guys [Kevin Rudd and the Labour Party], but they have to be better than the last lot. I hope so, at least.

Thank god and anything you might believe in that apathy didn't rule day in Australia this election. We have no term limits for our leaders, if Howard had won again I would definitely have had to emigrate, in shame.

keyl — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:18:36 GMT

Happy Thanksgiving, guys.

keyl — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:00:33 GMT

From Things That Are Seriously Overrated, Volume 1:

Waking up to discover that the clothes you left on the washing line overnight have blown away in the strong winds, into a pot of fine, needly, cactii.

I see about an hour with a pair of tweezers in my future.

Seen any good movies lately?

keyl — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:16:48 GMT

I saw Death at a Funeral recently, with my mum. It was... okay. Not as funny as it could've been, descended into embarrassing crap jokes [literally] after a bit. Alan Tudyk was awesome though, his face is so gorgeously malleable that he stole the show. Wait for DVD, and not a new release DVD, either.

I just watched the trailers for Wanted [warning, loud noise when it loads, turn your volume down] and Gabriel. Both look interesting - Gabriel looks pretty, and better than I expected an Australian film about angels would [which isn't saying much, but I'll see it, because it looks Underworldish], and Wanted looks both pretty and a lot of fun, right up my alley. I'm a big sucker for counter-culture revisionist-history stuff, like secret societies and secret truths hidden amidst our normal day-to-day lives. Wanted seems to fit right in to that, so it revs something up in my blood.

So have you seen any good movies lately?

P.S. It's pouring here, and we had lightning strike in my backyard tonight. Exciting. I also hurt my feet so badly today, breaking in new shoes, that I'm having real trouble walking even barefoot. It's overrated.

Best. Thing. Ever.

keyl — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:34:47 GMT

Quote from Michael Vartan:

"I eBayed myself because a friend told me that some lunatic had made a pillowcase with my face on it. I thought it would be a very funny joke gift to give my mom for her birthday. I did, however, find a Victor Garber key chain that had a picture of him on the front, and on the back it said, 'And on the eighth day, God created Victor Garber.'"

That, my friends? That is awesome.

keyl — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 03:09:32 GMT

My parents arrive back tonight from their 10 day trip to Hawaii. I guess it'll be nice to have company again, but at the same time, I've kinda enjoyed my solitude, peace, and quiet. And no cigarette smoke.

So I'm cleaning the house now, vacuuming and sorting out papers and all the things I didn't do when I was working this last week. I had one day of work yesterday, and then slept in till 11am today. It was nice.

Of course, I've not done anything at all to clean my apartment, but their house will be decent. Or something close to decent.