Waking up strong in the morning...

A day on the green: Kasey Cahmbers, The Whitlams etc Today

2009-11-08T00:44:10Z

I know it's way short notice, but anyone want my ticket? ($80 bucks, generously does not include costs of 'handling' or petrol costs for you to pick it up *grins wryly*)

I impulse bought, but the thought of staying home is far more appealing for various reasons, and Ticketmaster, naturally enough, appears to be glad to accept impulse purchases, but not impulse refunds.

Dear Flist! Microsoft Publisher 2007 help

2009-10-20T06:33:54Z

Okay, I'm trying to print a single A3 page in Publisher. I've selected the A3 Portrait (29.7 x 42cm) option, typed in my text which appeared to be all on one page and just fine, but when I go to print preview it displays as spread over four sheets. wtf? Any ideas?

In sum:
Selecting A4 Portrait gets a display of one sheet in Print Preview, but A3 displays 4 sheets, and insists on printing four, and setting margins only understood to itself. Help?

(Note: I can't use Word, alas, because of font issues -- I grabbed a font from the internet that watermarks in Word, but not in Publisher or Photoshop, thankfully)

Roman Polanski link

2009-10-08T13:47:11Z

Excellent points made about the original trial here.

A week in the life of (vol 2.2)

2009-10-02T17:50:49Z

Sunlit wall - 7:24am

Current reading love - 8:29am

Delivering Tape - 9:06am

Snack experimenting - 11:02am

Clear kettle <3 - 11:08am

Baby tapes - 4:09pm

Side 1 - 4:43pm

111 - 4:48pm

Oooh! - 4:57pm

Day's word count: 346 (running total 536)

A week in the life of (vol 2.1)

2009-10-01T13:28:55Z

On the way to work - 8:40am

On the way to... somewhere else - 8:45am

Pretty books! - 12:50pm

Committed! - 12:57pm

Lights out! - 4:12pm

Use of wet concrete FTW! - 4:42pm

Day's word count: 187

Quote: who have come alive...

2009-09-30T13:56:10Z

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
- Dr Howard Thurman

Long term goal #1

2009-09-28T13:16:14Z

I will design and knit at least one pair of socks, and enter them in the 2010 Royal Show.

Posted without context, and without attribution

2009-09-18T10:28:04Z

"I wouldn't have the first idea how to wield a frog sexually!"

Blah... and baby things!

2009-09-05T15:49:12Z

My mood's been all over the place today: anxiety, bad self-talk and resurgence of the reflux, and it's all happening with a whole day buffering between me and Monday. On the other hand, I drove out to a hospital I had no idea was down the road, had a blood test and stopped by the shops for a paper and processed protein, all utterly painless and without too much forethought (this is worth noting). There was also discussion and love with samvara, though, which helped. And there are baby things!

Rescued baby duckling! and Baby Mongoose! Seriously, watch that video. If you don't spend it going "D'awwww!" you have no soul, cos I said so. :P

Homebirth in bed ad

2009-08-29T13:28:15Z

Given the fabulous discussions last night on homebirth etc, I figured this was a good time to repost this:

Vid: The Obamas - Hey, I love you

2009-08-29T12:40:23Z

I found this wandering through flists' of flists:

Vid by sdwolfpup that put a stupidly happy smile on my face. Excellent, excellent use of still images.

Meme: favourite songs starting with L, from LJ user frogd

2009-08-15T13:43:30Z

In the order iTunes sorted them:

Little plastic castle by Ani Difranco
A jaunty song of Ani going: “Woha! Guys, relax!”

from the shape of your shaved head
i recognized your silhouette
as you walked out of the sun and sat down
and the sight of your sleepy smile eclipsed all the other people
as they paused to sneer at the two girls from out of town

Lover’s Spit (Beehives Version) by Broken Social Scene
Not so much the lyrics, but the slow, slow pace of the version. This was my comfort song during my Master. It helped me concentrate.

The long way round by The Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks still firmly and politely declining to apologise, and going off to do their own thing. I can’t remember if I heard this song before ‘Not ready to make nice’, but I remember hearing this one for the first time on the bus heading out of the city and being utterly transfixed, and deciding in that moment to go out and buy their album.

Well, I fought with a stranger and I met myself
I opened my mouth and I heard myself
It can get pretty lonely when you show yourself
Guess I could have made it easier on myself

Lullaby by The Dixie Chicks</b>
I know, I know, the timelines totally don’t match. But I can completely see Mary singing this to Dean, and then Sam, when they were babies.

How long do you want to be loved
Is forever enough? Is forever enough?
How long do you want to be loved?
Is forever enough?
Cause I'm never, never giving you up

Lion’s teeth by The Mountain Goats
So many of The Mountain Goats’ songs are quietly, utterly brutal. This is one of my favourites.

The king of the jungle
Was asleep in his car
When your chances fall in your lap like that
You've gotta recognize them for what they really are

Love love love by The Mountain Goats
Also lyrically brutal, but with gorgeous, quiet, flowing music.

King Saul fell on his sword
When it all went wrong
And Joseph's brother sold him down the river
For a song
And Sonny Liston rubbed some tiger balm in his glove
some things you do for money
and some you do for love love love

I confess to not being dedicated enough to upload all of these, but if you want one, leave a comment and I’ll upload it, just for you. :)

Dear Kamikaze remix person

2009-08-10T10:59:19Z

Dear Kamikaze remix person,

I don't know if you'll ever see this, but on the off-chance, I figured I'd write and say 'hi, I realise in retrospect I haven't so much given you a fic to remix as an idea to play with'. Or at least, I hope that's how you're viewing it... To that end, have fun with it! Or write something deeply angsty. Hey, that's fun, right? *coughs*

Take it wherever your muses decide to run away with it. Which is sort of the idea of remix, but sometimes it helps to hear that. *grins*

Right!

2009-08-09T13:15:07Z

This morning I went food shopping and did a fridge clear out. This afternoon I went and saw Coraline 3D which was gorgeous. I'm not quite convinced that 3D is worth the money, or the effort that went into producing it, but I appreciated the advance in tech that means you don't have to wear red/green glasses.

This evening I was suffering mild going-to-work-tomorrow anxiety, which nosedived into a sulk when I realised a perfect job was closing tomorrow that I'd only just found out about.

Pah, says samvara, you've written hundreds of those! Hand in a crap one! which inspired me enough to open and word document and start hacking and pasting. So now I have a mostly complete (crappy) three page selection criteria and a filled out vacancy form attached to an email to my work-self which reads 'call them an hassle them about submitting via email'.

Which has been a rather awesome exercise in 'anxiety that makes me freeze, or fret uselessly' versus 'using controlled adrenaline to get things done'. Take note, self.

Also, notes to self about the last few days:
Saturday was racing to brunch with mum after waking up Late, OT, buying new sheets (Holy Sheet is now Bedlam, which I'm a little sad about. Same store, but I liked the other name...) and shaving my head with samvara's assistance.

Friday was conducting a highly successful expedition to Lush.

Thursday was struggling to get going, but got out of PJs and the house by 2pm, dropped off candles to FP, found mini-USB cable, etc.

Wednesday was taking it gentle in the morning at work, and freezing and calling a taxi to take me home from work with a quite spectacular little case of vertigo. Huh.

Google Maps: Bull Creek stn to Garden City

2009-08-07T03:30:50Z

Remember the 'swim: 3,000 miles' directions from New York to Onslow?

There are still little gems hidden in there. Selecting Bull Creek stn to Garden City by walking gives you the shortest option of 215 days 13 hours, and suggests you...

(click through to flickr for the larger size)

Oh, Google, I love you so much.

Soul food

2009-08-02T13:05:58Z

I've been having a stressful time of it at work, almost all of it due to 'I avoided it until it stopped going away, which it then blew up in my face' sort of issues. I'm still in the thick of it, and I'm not sure what happens next.

Either way, whatever is going to happen, and whatever I can make happen, regardless; the world goes on, I'll still be here, my friends and beloveds and home will still be here. This is just a blip of a couple of weeks on the radar.

Things that have helped me keep perspective over the last week, and reminded me that the world is an okay place:

My housemate black_samvara for being unbelievably supportive, and amazing, and *flaps wordlessly* along with prk, transcendancing especially. I don't know what I did in a previous life to deserve you guys, but I'm glad I did it.

Fand by Laney Cairo. Magic and calm and peace.

On a similar note: This Australian Story, about a man who has fathered six kids for five mothers.

The songs of Lisa Mitchell.

The songs of Josh Pyke

Free to a good home: Candles, candle holders, incense

2009-08-02T08:42:43Z

Anyone want anything appearing in the below photo? They're from my brief flirtation with Wicca back in my teens, and have been stored in a dry, dark chest for a long time. Still smells good :P

Most of the incense in particular was given to me by a beloved friend, and I'd love for it to be used by someone who would appreciate it. Inquire within (maharetr at yahoo.com) for pick up address.

ETA: Candles have been claimed. Candle holders and incense are still up for grabs.

Gmail

2009-07-24T02:48:22Z

Is anyone else having problems with gmail? I can't get it to load, or when it does, chat doesn't work. This is driving me crazy.

Random gripe:

2009-07-23T11:38:44Z

It really irritates me when a chunk of a trailer or paragraph of a blurb is devoted to "Creator of blah, blah, great talent crafts a spellbinding tale of intrigue and blah..." and only then gets on to the actual point: the story in question. Let the work stand (or fall over) on its own merits!

(Brought to you as a result of trying to find the trailer for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus)

Home tired

2009-07-21T02:05:43Z

I'm staying home from work today because I did the 'lying in bed with my eyes closed. All night' thing. Which -- oh. Dear self, no more drinking coke that late on a work night. Also, less stressing about things that you can't do anything about until morning :P Love, me.

ETA: prk, mynxii, I'm still on for tonight, although there's no way I'll be able to stay until 11pm -- I can catch a taxi early. Meet one/both of you at Food Store from 5:30? <3

X-men fic: Out beyond the breakers (Kitty/Rogue, R)

2009-07-19T10:59:56Z

Title: Out beyond the breakers
Author: maharetr
Recipient: aphrodite_mine
Fandom: X-men (movie ‘verse, technically)
Rating: R
Characters/Pairing: Kitty/Rogue
Warnings: brief violence and character death, mentions of suicide, end-of-the-world grimness...
Notes: Title from Everclear's Santa Monica
Summary: The first time Rogue kisses her, it’s the end of the world.

The first time Rogue kisses her, it’s the end of the world.

Kitty has solidified half way up the hill in the middle of the bedlam, coaxing the kids clinging to her to let go and pointing them towards Storm when Rogue runs in. She’s out of breath, face grimy with ash.

“Hey,” Rogue pants. “Hey.” Kitty has a moment to realize what Rogue’s about to do before she leans in and kisses Kitty on the mouth. Rogue’s lips are dry, chapped, her tongue a shock of wet, and Kitty has just enough time to gather her wits and start kissing back before the pull sweeps in and carries everything away.

Rogue has broken the kiss but she’s close enough still for the heat of her cheek to transmit, somehow far hotter than the heat of the fire.

“You okay?” Rogue asks, urgent, and Kitty realises Rogue is practically supporting her weight. She wishes she’d had time to think I love you, you crazy woman. But Rogue would get that anyway. Kitty steadies herself and nods. “There were still some kids on the second floor, in the science labs,” she says instead.

Rogue nods and takes off at a sprint back towards the school. Kitty takes deep breaths of smoke-filled air and stamps her feet to re-learn the boundaries of her body, needing the grounding before going back into the rescue. Down in the grounds, Rogue sprints through the wall and back into the burning building.

To her right, Kurt materialises with some of the younger kids, one of whom is screaming. Jones. He’s bloody, face streaked with it. Fuck. She lunges across to him, grabs his arm.

“Stop,” she snaps, then gentler: “You’re okay.” To her surprise, he shuts up and gapes at her.

It’s hard to see in the dark, but it looks like a gash rather than a bite, and she rips off her jacket and folds it up for a compress.

“Don’t die on us,” she says, forcing a grin, but he just stares mutely at her. She nearly prefers the screaming.

Behind her, the fire roars suddenly, a wave of heat that hunches her shoulders. Over that, Wolverine’s shout of warning is barely audible, but far more alarming.

“Incoming, two o’clock!”

Kitty jerks around, barely aware she’s grabbed Jones around the chest, pulling him close to her. For a moment, she can’t make anything out, the light cast by the fire barely enough to illuminate the trees. Then the flashlight beams spot them: shapes in amongst the tree trunks, moving shapes. For a moment, Kitty can’t even breathe through the fear, then she lunges for the group of kids, dragging Jones with her. Wolverine is barking orders -- “Hold that line, goddamnit. Everyone else, move” -- as if there was some place safe to go, rather than the ragtag remains of already exhausted survivors standing far too exposed on the side of a hill.

“Grab onto me. Don’t let go,” she says, and they obey; four hands clutching at her uniform and taking her hands. They’re so young, and they’re staring up at her like she can rescue them, like she can make it all go away. It’s hopeless, utterly hopeless, but she forces her mouth into a reassuring smile. “We’re going to run, okay?”

They nod seriously, wide-eyed and soot-streaked.

“Rogue!” Kitty calls, and there’s a shout to her left, further down. Kitty tries not to sag with relief. She tugs the kids forward and starts a stumbling run with everyone else up the slope.

They don’t get far at all.

The girl holding Kitty’s right hand screams, and the flashlight beams jerk across what had once been a man, still wearing most of a business suit. It staggers towards them, reaching out with a remaining arm, and that’s when Kitty gulps in a breath and phases as she runs. The world blurs into snatches of sensation: the ground under her feet, the kids clinging tight -- the moment, fleeting but still far too long, of passing through the zombie -- then the more familiar feeling of tree, tree, someone – Bobby? – tree... before her hold on the phase wavers, and she trips and goes down hard.

Someone is lifting the kids off her. She’s swept up by blue arms, and it’s Beast’s voice in her ear: “Can you keep going?” She’s too tired to nod, but she closes her eyes and phases again, her awareness simultaneously shrinking down again to the edges of her body and extending to Beast pressed against her side, the hands of the kids clinging to her and the... things they’re passing through.

The world jerks -- terrifyingly, there’s no sensation at all – then they’re crashing through the undergrowth and Kitty hears the snarling and phases, then the world jerks again, and again, until she’s lost count, until she’s nauseated and there’s nothing but holding the phase, and gasping a warning to Beast when she can’t.

“It’s okay,” Beast says though the ringing in her ears. “It’s okay, you can stop now.” For a moment she thinks it’s because they can’t run anymore, that it’s over and they failed, and no, no...

Beast is laying her gently down on... sand? Kitty opens her eyes.

They’re on a beach. Dawn is glowing over the eastern horizon, revealing an empty jetty and the silhouettes of boat houses. There’s just enough light to make out Kurt collapsed beside her, eyes closed. She can see his chest moving with his breath, and she reaches out to touch his outflung arm. Warm. She nearly sobs with relief.

“Well done,” Beast says beside her. “Rest for a while.” She wants to tell him the same thing – he carried her for... however long it took them to get wherever the hell they are. Kitty rolls over enough to watch him untangling the kids from his legs.

Further away near the rise of the dunes, Wolverine is struggling too. It takes a moment for her exhausted mind to register that it’s not Wolverine snarling, it’s the woman on his back, and then Wolverine throws her to the ground and runs his claws through her throat.

He straightens slowly, blood pattering to the sand as he sheathes his claws. Kitty turns her face away, not wanting to know who that had been.

“Is anyone hurt?” Wolverine calls, voice carrying over the group, and Kitty doesn’t want to know how few they are now. Wolverine walks forward, and in the growing light she can see the blood on his clothes, the bite on his neck that is rapidly closing and for a moment she hates his ability to heal, to live when so many others had died.

Then she meets his eyes, and the grief there makes her feel ashamed.

“Jones,” she says, sitting up despite the wave of dizziness. “He’s got a head wound. He’s not...” She can’t quite finish that sentence. “He’s okay.” A glance between Beast and Wolverine, and Beast lopes off to check him out.

“How you doing, kid?” Wolverine asks, crouching next to her. He touches her cheek, and the small comfort nearly makes her cry, even if she knows he’s just checking to see if she’s cold. A wave of morbid humor sweeps her: how are they going to check –

“Rogue,” Kitty says sharply. “Where is she?”

Wolverine doesn’t even look around. In that brief moment of clarity before the realization starts to sink in, that strikes Kitty as the worst part: that he knew already.

“She touched me,” Kitty insisted steadily, calmly. “She could go anywhere. They can’t get her.”

“How long did she touch you?”

She kissed me, I wasn’t paying attention Kitty wants to yell, but she doesn’t know how much Wolverine knows, or if Rogue wants him to know. Wanted her mind whispers.

“I saw her go into the school,” Kurt volunteers wearily from the ground. “I did not see her come out.”

“If she was still in the school when it went down,” Wolverine says. “She would have been trapped under the rubble.” As if that’s good news. And really, Kitty thinks, it is. No one mentions out loud that Ruth had barricaded herself in her room before she slit her wrists, and still managed to break her way through the door afterwards.

Kitty shudders, hard, and forces her hands into fists until the shaking stops. Kurt gets slowly to his feet, shaky himself after so much teleporting.

“I thought there might be boats,” Kurt says apologetically, gesturing to the shattered boat sheds, the empty mooring posts.

Wolverine twitches. It was almost imperceptible, but his nostrils are flaring, and Kitty sees his muscles tense. She can’t hear anything over the breaking of the waves, can’t see any movement in the dunes, but still...

“Can zombies swim?” Kitty asks, so softly she almost hopes no one else has heard. Kurt hears, and denial flares bright in his eyes.

“Where would we swim to? We can’t float out there until – what? They rot to pieces?”

“No,” Kitty says, and her mouth is numb around the words. “We can’t. Can zombies swim?”

“People were drowning themselves in California,” Wolverine says, reluctantly. Kurt turns away, mouth moving in silent prayer. Wolverine is pale, but he keeps talking. “The reports before the lines went down said people were climbing out of bathtubs. Swimming pools were tricker. Oceans... we’d get washed back to shore, eventually.”

Kitty shivers again, wrapping her arms around her chest, but it’s just the cold breeze picking up... and with it, the sickly-sweet smell of decay. Some of the kids begin to wail.

Wolverine steps closer, like he might try and hug her. He squeezes her shoulder instead. “Would she want you to give up like that?”

Rogue’s voice in her head is instantaneous: No. Kitty clenches her jaw. “I don’t care.”

They can hear it now; the snarling and muttering. Storm is calling up thunder clouds over the ocean, the salty wind driving away the smell of rot and bringing ozone.

“Could you give up on the kids?” Wolverine asks, and she wants to hit him, because of course she couldn’t. Rogue’s No almost makes it past her lips this time, but she shoves Wolverine away instead, and starts yelling names, pointing them down the jetty. The defensive line is forming around them, and Kitty takes up her place at the head of the pier.

Wolverine nods sharply at her, and someone hands her a machete on their way past. It’s already splattered with blood.

“Let’s get on with it, then.” Kitty tightens her grip on the handle and squares her shoulders as the rain starts to fall.

Dude

2009-07-13T03:16:59Z

Pancakes with strawberries and the Moonlight Sonata in my kitchen. My life, it does not suck.

wtf, Yahoo?

2009-07-12T06:49:13Z

Okay, for the last 24 to 36 ish hours I've been unable to send any email from my yahoo account, other than replying to LJ comments. When I hit send on an email it tells me:

"Component returned failure code: 0x805e000a [nsIDOMLocation.replace]"

The 'send feedback' and 'contact us' option in the help menu aren't actually opening anything. Anyone?

Fashion/Dress sense question

2009-06-28T05:30:07Z

View poll: Fashion siren call...

I have no idea if this poll will display in my unpaid Livejournal account, but here goes.
</poll-638>

Hey! Hey Hey Hey!

2009-06-28T05:26:57Z