Katiefoolery

I know what not to wear!

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:39:33 GMT

The Setting: Fountain Gate shopping centre.
Dramatis Personae:
Me (myself and I)
The Sonia (almost-sister-in-law)
Trinny and Susannah
Sundry others

This is what happened: Trinny and Susannah from the original What Not To Wear were coming to Australia and I asked my almost-sister-in-law, Sonia, if she’d like to go and see them. She’s a mad fan of them (I'm pretty sure she even has all of their books) so of course she said yes.

There’s a question that automatically goes through your head when you know you’re going to be in the very near vicinity of such style gurus: Should I dress up to impress, or dress down to get their attention and a make-over? I opted just to stay casual. It was the weekend, after all... it seemed like an acceptable option to me.

We got there in plenty of time and quickly decided that Fountain Gate needs lessons in signage. Sonia spotted the sign for Trinny and Susannah in Centre Court (“I see legs!” – it was a completely surreal statement until I saw the banner draped from the ceiling, legs-first) but there was a complete lack of signage directing us to said Centre Court. Nevertheless, we made our way there and found a spot that wasn’t too bad, vantage-wise and the show began at long last. They began with a bit of banter, then headed into the crowd in search of victims. Trinny headed our way, so our attention was naturally focussed on her as she talked to people and sent one or two in the direction of the stage.

We happened to be standing in a spot where people seemed to ask a lot of questions, such as:

Would you like this brochure? (Yes, thank-you.)

Where do you get those ice-creams? (Look for the ladies with giant bags on the edge of the crowd.)

The ice-creams weren’t any good, by the way, even though they were free.

Sometimes, we even asked ourselves questions, such as:

Why are those girls wearing robes? (We never did find out.)

So when someone tapped me on the shoulder, I was expecting to turn around and face another mindless question. Instead, I found myself face to face with Susannah, an encounter that left me kind of speechless. Which is lucky, because the only thing I could think of to say was “Oh, it’s you” which seems slightly on the inane side. She appraised me for a bit while I stared in bewilderment and then said, “I think I’d like you to go on stage”.

And go on stage I did, all the while wondering what was so bad about my outfit. I mean, sure, it was a bit casual, but I’d been shopping that morning and I wanted something that was easy to change in and out of. Why, why had I been chosen? These thoughts were still going through my head as they started talking about the first lady, taking every opportunity to grab her boobs (as is their wont). What’s wrong with my outfit? What are they going to pick on? I was torn between excitement and anguish.

Finally, it was my turn and Susannah led me to the front of the stage where she actually said I was dressed pretty well for my shape. “But we want you to go a step further,” she said. “Show off those curves.” And I was sent backstage, into regimented chaos.

“I think she’d look fantastic in this blue dress,” was Susannah’s verdict, as she dragged a rather gorgeous, slinky thing off the rack. There was a brief moment of concern when it was thought that someone else was already going to wear it, but it turned out to be a myth and the dress was bestowed upon me as I was bestowed upon Bridget, the make-up artist.

Poor Bridget – she wasn’t to know that my eyes practically weep at the mere thought of eyeliner. She was constantly being harried as she tried to deal with my overly sensitive blink reflex and she managed to make me look amazing regardless. Make-up done, into the changing room; then off to step into some gorgeous shoes and to be draped in chunky jewellery. Then passed back to Bridget for hair. At one point Susannah had suggested a quick trim to give me a fringe, which likewise gave me a moment of despair – But I’ve just grown my fringe out! I don’t want it back.

No time for a fringe – Bridget just sprayed my fine, disobedient hair into submission and was even there as I was waiting to go on stage, applying some last touches.

And then I was taken back out and there was applause and Susannah insisted I turn around so everyone could see what the dress was doing for my back view... It was madness and so much fun and completely surreal. If only we’d been allowed to keep the clothes! Everyone kept telling me I had to buy the dress – the colour was so amazing and it suited me perfectly – and I was thinking, Yeah, but with what money?

Turns out I might be able to after all. We were all given a little goody bag afterwards with the standard set of things in it: dodgy pen, discount offers, a recipe book and a rather nice notebook... plus a voucher. I thought it would be for some tiny amount – ten, twenty dollars maybe – and I didn’t investigate further until I got back to the Boy’s place and discovered it was actually for $150! So wow.

As for Trinny and Susannah themselves, they were completely lovely and approachable; they didn’t give themselves airs about being famous or completely glamorous. It was non-stop fun.

Well... all except for the slightly terrified lady who didn’t quite want to be there. I don’t think she had quite as much fun as the rest of us did.

But I did. It was surreal and amazing and it still feels slightly unreal. Thank goodness I actually do know what not to wear.

This, alas, is the only picture I have, taken by the Sonia on her phone from behind the Stupid Woman Who Kept Getting In Her Way. You'll just have to take my word for it that the blue blur is me and the black one is Susannah:

The good ship Turnbull

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:52:29 GMT

Dearest crazedturkey,

I have found you a new political ship. Forget Howard and Bush; now it's all about Hockey and Turnbull. Have a look at this darling picture of the two of them below:

See how Malcolm is gazing adoringly at Joe? See how Joe is so passionately talking about... whatever (probably something about he's such a good cook and is always in the kitchen, whipping up some fantastic treat after those long sessions in the Cabinet... oh, how I wish I hadn't said that now - it sounds far too euphemistic for my liking). Of course they're not about to contest the leadership of the Liberal party! They couldn't bear to be apart from each other for a second!

I hope I've given you something to think about at least (and at the same time, I apologise for giving you something to think about...).

Much love,
Katie(foolery).

In which I ramble...

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 07:06:42 GMT

...and wear an awesome t-shirt.

I just couldn't resist getting out my "Buffy staked Edward" t-shirt, especially considering that both Tuesday and Friday have worn theirs in their videos of the past two weeks.

Apart from that, this week's (or last week's) video is a slightly rambling affair, mostly due to the fact that I was procrastinating about a vast number of things whilst being distracted by this stupid game on my iPhone. Stupid, addictive game... My cat makes a random appearance though, so huzzah for that!

In other news, my holidays are pretty much over and I am completely unprepared for the impending return to work. On the up side, in a bit under two weeks, there shall be LorFers down here in Melbourne and it shall be awesome fun! I CANNOT WAIT.

Something different

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 05:28:04 GMT

I refuse to believe that my holidays are almost half-over! It can't be true! I have rather successfully wasted a lot of time and taken it rather easy, though. And I have made a start on some of the things listed in this week's video:

I am quite interested to hear answers to the question I ask. It's something that has fascinated me since I read about an author who really wanted to write romance but ended up writing fantasty instead. Sometimes the genre we want to write in isn't actually the genre in which we write the best.

So which genre are you secretly tempted to try?

Thankfully...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:22:19 GMT

Last week was quite good, actually. I meant to write about it here - several times, in fact - but work kept getting in the way. Work even got in the way of my video, which had to be posted on the weekend this time around.

There are good and bad sides to everything really. For instance:

Good: Work is more interesting these days and involves far fewer library-oriented tasks.
Bad: It also involves fewer actual breaks.

Good: People keep complimenting me on my (apparently) awesome taste in shoes.
Bad: This fills me with uncertainty every morning as I choose my footwear AND causes me to wonder if I should have a lot more shoes.

Good: I was complimented within an inch of my life on Friday.
Bad: I'm not quite sure if it's OK just to say "thank-you" or if I should return the compliment if at all possible.

And now I am on holidays and am being kept company by actual, real internet! Internet that's much faster before! Ironically, I spent the first day of said holidays far from this fast internet and instead in the company of people from Ober.net. (Although, as you can see here, we were all very close to mobile forms of internetness...) It was a splendid day! There was an almost-rained-out picnic, followed by unintentional spending of money in Minotaur. This required us to sit down in Borders with a beverage of some sort... followed by further unintentional spending of money.

But seriously, Borders had the "Buffy staked Edward" t-shirts! As part of a stand of Twilight merchandise! How were we supposed to resist, especially when they look this awesome?

Featuring (clockwise from the top left): clueless_kitty, emerald85, zanthlay, rilla06 and me.

I don't have mine on because I wanted to preserve the integrity of my gypsy outfit. *cough*lazy*cough* Oh yes, I didn't mention the gypsy outfits, did I?

We were wearing gypsy outfits.

There you go. It was part of our theme for the picnic and we didn't actually stand out too much, thanks to the fact that we were in the city on Talk Like A Pirate Day. However, according to various bystanders, we could also double as:

Authentically-dressed Russian villagers

Pirate wenches

Pre-Buccanneer-era pirates

Of course, the 3D glasses add considerably to our authenticity in that pic. We were just waiting to see Up in 3D, which is possibly the most gorgeous movie I've seen in ages.

And once all that was over (although none of us wanted it to be), I got right on to my delayed video. Unsurprisingly, it's writing week again and this week's theme is to do with authors we admire or who have influenced us. Since I was in a rather grateful mood all week, I decided to make my video into a thank-you to all the authors who've inspired me in one way or another. Watch to see who makes the cut!

I'd love to know which authors you guys would like to thank, even if it's for trivial reasons. Comment! Make a video! Send me a smoke signal!

Still alive

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 03:40:22 GMT

Yes, I'm still alive. No, I don't have internet yet. This is causing the house to echo with the sound of gah from noon to night. We have a line, we have sync, we have a perfectly set up modem/router... but we unfortunately have an ISP on the failboat as they still haven't done whatever it is they have to do in order to give us precious, precious internet.

Therefore, gah.

It's at times like these that it's good to have an iPhone, I tell you what. Mine is currently packed with things that keep me in contact with people: Twitter, YIM, Beejive (for MSN - Microsoft and Apple still aren't talking), Facebook and this thing I'm using for LJ. It makes me laugh a bit, considering I'm supposed to be this shy, anti-social thing... yet here I am, ensuring I can be in contact with people even when I'm asleep.

Although I hear I'm not all that communicative when I'm asleep.

If only everyone had iPhones - then we could judge them by the apps on their front page.

I should have my internet back tomorrow and I cannot wait to get back to watching pointless videos on YouTube and actually keeping up with my flist. And any other things I might care to do to get in the way of writing.

And then, holidays! Packed full of things to do! So many things to look forward to; I just hope it's the same for everyone else, too.

Long time passing

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 07:42:42 GMT

Over the past couple of days I have come to a rather alarming understanding: Facebook and Twitter have eaten the internet. It's true, though; every word of it is true.

For instance, I fully suspect the main reason I haven't been posting here as much is not, in fact, because of laziness but is rather due to the fact that whatever I would have posted already appeared piecemeal on Twitter throughout the day.

Then again, it could be due to laziness.

Or the fact that I still do not have proper internet at home, due to Netspace fail. Seriously, last time it took them two days to re-connect us. This time they claim they actually need to come out to the house to make sure we're not lying about having a telephone line or something, just like Telstra before them. I'm on the verge of sending them detailed photos of said telephone lines, complete with handy labels so they can't miss a thing.

On the other hand, it could just be that their internet technicians are crying out for human contact. Or at least a nice cuppa and a biscuit.

Regardless, at this point, I won't have proper internet until the 13th, which is almost a month after they promised us internet within two weeks. I AM GOING CRAZY HERE.

Anyway, to return to my point: stealage of internet by Twitter and Facebook.

I have my LJ posts set to ship to Facebook automatically. It seemed like the thing to do. Mostly, they just wandered off there and passed by without comment, except on rare occasions. Now I get almost as many comments on Facebook as I actually do on LJ.

Everything just seems to filter through Facebook or Twitter. Once upon a time, I used to get breaking news on my flist; now it's through Twitter that I find out that water minister Tim Holding hasn't ironically perished at the hands of snow.

Why the transition, though? Why have we gone from blogging to micro-blogging? Why have we been drawn in to wasting our time on quizzes or, even worse, farming, on Facebook? Personally, I think it's because it's more immediate. You can have Twitter and Facebook in your pocket with your phone - you can always be up to date with what's going on, no matter how mundane.

Am I right? Horribly wrong? I guess I'm just fascinated to know what inspires these changes. Why have you been drawn in, against your will or not?

Present tense and soundless

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:57:17 GMT

Of course irony would ensure that when I finally think I have something useful to say during writing week, it ensures that no-one can hear it. On the up side, at least the video quality is a little better than on my netbook...

As you may be able to guess from the oh-so-witty pun in the title of this week's video, we're talking about tense for writing week. My tense of the moment happens to be present tense. For some reason, I tend to champion the aspects of writing that are burdened with the worst reputations. First person, present tense... they're my favourites. And it's mostly beause they present a challenge. How do you write them so they don't annoy people? How do you try to bring a modicum of respect to their existence?

When we talked about POV, I learnt that first person annoys a lot of people to the point where they won't read or write it. I'd be interested to know: does present tense create the same sense of annoyance and rejection?

(Oh, and I'll be providing 200 words of original fiction next week to make up for my MWF-induced failure to produce 100 this week...)

A festival of inspiration

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 06:46:23 GMT

Let me tell you, the last few days have been just fantastic. It's funny to think back to my first trepidatious steps towards meeting these crazy people from this equally crazy website and to compare said steps with my crazy-enthusiastic run towards said meetings now. To catch you up (and to draw us all away from that laboured analogy), I should explain that I have spent three of the past five days at the Melbourne Writers Festival in the company of people from Ober.net, some of whom I'd met before; many of whom I hadn't.

It was so much fun! We talked, we watched, we fangirled, we bought books, drank coffee, ate pancakes and drew signs and it was all over far too quickly. Mostly, we were there to see sessions with Isobelle Carmody (since she's the reason behind our website), but it was also a fantastic chance to meet up with people from interstate who share our loonish tendencies. It's just wonderful to be able to act like an idiot in public - and much easier to do so when you have a group of people with you doing exactly the same thing.

Actually, it was so much fun that I didn't quite manage to write those hundred words I promised in my last video. There'll be more excuses about this in this week's video.

The up side of this lack of writing is that the festival has inspired me to actually do some of said activity. The past few festivals I've attended weren't quite as inspiring. In fact, "pretentious" is the word I'd apply to them... and then only if I were being nice. This time around, it definitely wasn't pretentious.

And I really, really feel as though I should be writing.

Same time, different place

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:33:47 GMT

We have moved! Successfully! Mostly!

Let's not talk about the stupid bits and pieces still hanging around the old place because I AM SICK OF THEM. I never want to see that place again. And, strangely, I'm not sitting here, wishing I was still living there. I thought I was going to hate it here, simply because it's not my lovely old place in the quiet street under the giant tree.

But it turns out I kinda like this quirky place on the hill.

We are still without internet, as we decided to change to the type that doesn't require a proper phone line. This means we have to wait up to three weeks (for faster internet, admittedly) rather than a couple of days. In the meantime, I am subsisting on mobile broadband and my iPhone.

I still managed to upload a video this week, though! It's very short and the quality is not fantastic, due to the fact that I recorded it on my shiny little netbook. I thought it would take forever to upload on mobile broadband, but it actually took about two minutes.

Oh, and I make a rash promise in this video, so watch on to find out what it is. :D

And now, I have breakfast to eat, so I shall run off and take care of that business.

Moving on on on

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 12:19:07 GMT

Dear merciful madness, I won't have proper internet until some time after Tuesday. My new telephone number doesn't even exist yet. I know this, because I get to work from home on Tuesday so I can wait for a million hours for a Telstra person to come up and telephone-ise my house. This is strange, because it's not a new house AND it has at least two telephone points in it already, but there you go.

I'll just have to make do with my mobile broadband and iPhone in the meantime. I won't be entirely cut off from the world.

I may even read a book or two. Get into some beta-ing. That sort of thing.

Also, there will be no more central heating for me. Considering I grew up in a house whose primary source of heat was an open fireplace, this won't be too much of a problem. But I rather fear I have become accustomed to central heating... the lovely whooooooming of hot air flowing through the vents, the delightful joy of standing over a vent for extra warmth, the pleasure of having one's towel heated while one is in the shower...

Ah well.

So yes, we are moving against our will. Yet again. Huzzah for landlords who keep selling the houses we're trying to live in... The new place is OK, I guess. It's high up at least, which is a good thing for someone who has an inexplicable paranoia about floods. Ain't no floodwaters going to reach this house. Well, unless something biblical occurs.

And tomorrow is the big move, which is thankfully going to take place while I'm at work. I'll be coming back to a new house and lots of boxes and things to pack away. Or throw out, whichever works.

I shall see you all on the other side of it!

First with first

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:53:52 GMT

I have stolen the last chocolate royal and it is good. Apart from the fact that it has strawberry marshmallow filling instead of vanilla. That's just wrong. You lied to me, chocolate royals packet! Or... at least concealed certain vital facts from me.

Still, there is biscuit, there is marshmallow and there is chocolate and this makes for happy times.

Something else that makes for happy times is the fact that I think I did a great job with this week's video. Well, an OK job. A passable job. I did it, anyway. The subject of this writing week is point of view and I pretty much shoved my way to the front of the queue and shouted "OMG, GIVE ME FIRST PERSON POV OR I'LL CRAWL INTO A CORNER AND ANGST UNDER A DARK LITTLE RAINY CLOUD".

Because I rather like first person. It is made of many, many types of win. You will hear me expand upon its win-ness in this week's video:

I wasn't always a fan of first person, mostly for the reason stated early in the video: all of my characters seemed to sound like me. Strangely... :P Then I read Tanith Lee's Law of the Wolf Tower and started to think differently about writing.

Then I started writing Postcards and thought differently about first person POV and voice and style and all sorts of lovely wordy things.

So where I used to write in third person and past tense, now I write in first person and present tense. There's so much scope there for rule-breaking; so many chances to try something different and to see exactly what you can do with words.

Please tell me: do you have a preferred POV to write (or read)? What makes it your favourite?

Photos from a phone

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:03:06 GMT

So here I am, waiting on hold to arrange for gas and electricity to be connected at my new house (rental, alas) and it seems like the perfect time for an update. It makes perfect sense, right? Apparently I just really want to type out an entire post left-handed...

Today's post features photos taken with my old phone. And it did not give them up willingly. No, it most certainly did not. I will spare you the details, but much swearing and cursing of the name Nokia was involved. It wasn't pretty, but I prevailed and the proof of this victory can be seen below.

(Well damn, someone answered the phone and interrupted my posting...)

And now to the photos, taken with a wonderfully advanced two megapixel Nokia phone camera. Despite this, I'm rather a fan of phone photos, mostly because they tend to be so random. Or candid. Or... something. Here are my seven selections from the photos I wrested away from my old Nokia.

I may have mentioned that I went to Sydney recently. Once or twice. With lots of exclamation marks and lamentations of how the time went far too quickly. Well, here's proof that I was there. I know, I know - it's the standard shot of the bridge, but I rather like the way it turned out.

And here are some of the loons with whom I spent the time in Sydney. Yes, in front of the bridge - we were taunting flippyfrog with her not-yet-hereness. It worked, although she retaliated with a picture of her rather funky red boot. I'd almost call that a draw. Almost.

So we saw her photo of her boot and raised her a photo of our shoes on Manly beach. Because that's just what you do, right?

My cat sleeps like an idiot. Seriously. This photo only touches on the barest level of her idiot-sleeping - you can't truly see how twisted up she is. Or where her head is.

When I'm stuck in traffic, I take pictures of nearby houses. Well, provided they're as cute as these terrace houses are. Bah at the person who drove past just as I was taking the shot. Bah, I say.

My mum is obsessed with tracking down garage sales, no matter where they may be. When I visited earlier this year, she happened to see a sign for such a sale and we followed it. And followed it. And followed it some more, right up a ridiculously steep hill until we doubted there was a garage in which a sale might actually be. But there was - eventually we ended up at a house on top of the hill with the most amazing view. Alas, my phone has rendered the vista completely flat-looking, even though it was rather incredibly high. Still quite impressive, though.

And finally, a cat on a log. If you look closely enough.

Dear authors, please RSVP

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:58:56 GMT

So yes, I am writing this post on the actual LJ entry page on the actual LJ site on ACTUAL LJ (in case you couldn't pick up the theme there). After... quite some time of being blocked at work (I didn't want to say "years" there, because it reminds me that I've been here too long), it's now un-blocked. Sort of. It went a bit like this...

Firstly, the students and staff combined managed to exceed the school's download limit, which resulted in our being shaped yesterday. It was quite ridiculously painful, especially considering I was trying to update the website via a web interface. So our handy technician came in and changed our proxy, allowing us to use another source for the internet.

It is faster.

It is shinier.

It allows me to access LJ.

Huzzah!

On the down side, however, is the fact that I have just discovered that YouTube is blocked. Hmm.

Now that I'm home, I can safely embed this week's video for your viewing pleasure. Or something.:D

This one was inspired by the fact that I'm going to a thing at which one of my favourite authors, Isobelle Carmody, will be present. I know I don't see eye-to-eye with her on the whole editing thing, but I still love to re-read the books I devoured with such enjoyment at fourteen. Obernewtyn was the first book that I wanted to read again the very second I finished the last page; that sort of thing has an impression upon a teenager.

Anyway, thoughts of this encounter led me to wonder which other authors I'd like to meet... which led to wondering which three authors I'd go so far as to invite for dinner. And I only came up with two, although now I'd quite like to add Diana Wynne Jones to the list.

So watch on for my ~~three~~ two authors and please let me know which authors you'd invite for dinner and why. Please note that they do not need to be alive. I'm not sure how entertaining a dead author's corpse and/or skeleton would be, but I won't let it stand in the way of a good dinner.

Coming soon: proof of my triumph over my phone in its attempt to detain my photos without charge!

Books & Videos

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 02:13:56 GMT

Well, one video. But definitely more than one book.

This week's video is a bit of a catch-up on my week. Which is rather logical. Why not spare a couple of minutes and catch up on said weekness?

Unfortunately, I've finished reading House of Many Ways by now. I really didn't want to. I tried my hardest to avoid it, but it happened eventually. This book definitely felt like a return to Diana Wynne Jones's inventively magical best, especially after I failed to be blown away by The Pinhoe Egg. If you've read Howl's Moving Castle, then you need to read House of Many Ways. And if you haven't read Howl... why on earth not? It's all fairytales and sarcasm and vanity and confusion. And yes, it's much better than the movie version, although the adaptation certainly has its charms. I just prefer my Howl to be a jerk, not a misunderstood anti-hero.

One of the things I like about Diana Wynne Jones is the way her characters develop in a very understated way. I was just sitting here thinking that Charmain never really grew or changed throughout House... but she did, in much the same way Sophie does in Howl's Moving Castle.

So read it. And then you can read Company of Liars, for it is similarly addictive. It's set in the time of the plague in England, but it might as well be a fantasty realm. Superstitions are upheld and mythical creatures are believed in - even a man with a wing for an arm is accepted as something that just happens. It's fascinating and beautifully written and packed full of fascinating characters. And yes, it's another book that really shouldn't have to end, but inevitably does.

Since I seem to be developing a trend here, I'm going to ask you all to recommend me your latest book-you-can't-put-down. Please?

(Also, I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and now believe that Luna Lovegood is made of some sort of crazy awesome. She was seriously the best thing about that movie and she was only in about three scenes or something.)

Inspiration on a broomstick

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 02:01:50 GMT

My Week of Organisation has begun! Well, technically it began yesterday, but I'm hoping to continue the trend. Yesterday wasn't too bad, considering I actually remembered to post a prompt word at the ficlet comm for the first time in weeks. So if you have a spare fifteen minutes and you feel like writing a ficlet based on a random word, head over to 15_minute_fic and go nuts. :D

And now, to move on to the subject of today's post.

You know what I like? You'll never guess, so I'll take pity on you and tell you. I like watching TV shows from the sixties. This usually happens when I go for my run; generally, I'll have the news on, but if I'm running at a different time, for whatever reason, it'll be old TV shows instead. My favourites?

Bewitched,

Get Smart,

and I Dream of Jeannie.

There's a semi-interesting link between those TV shows, if you think about it: they all feature a female character with all of the power who is obliged to sublimate that power (or the appearance of it) due to societal constraints.

...and that's my pretentious literary posturing out of the way for the day.

There's something about them, though. Something about the way they're written. Something about the characters they created and the way the actors approached the roles... but mostly the way they're written. I don't want to dismiss today's TV shows, because a lot of good writing still goes on.

And a lot doesn't...

But there was a different attitude towards these shows. After all, they didn't have half a century of television and established traditions behind them. They only had new ground to break, instead of deeply ingrained standards to challenge. Also, they remind me of being little and spending evenings at my grandparents' place with cheese and biscuits, which is never a bad thing.

And like any not-bad thing, they lead to stories happening in my head. Take the other night, when I saw the first five minutes of a Bewitched episode in which Samantha comes out of the kitchen to discover that Darren's gone missing and her mother isn't to blame for once. Five minutes of a pretty standard episode, except now I have a story in my head in which husbands are replaced with clocks and there may or may not be a plague of some sort.

(The plague has nothing to do with Bewitched and everything to do with the incredibly addictive book I just finished reading. More on that at some later point.)

We could also take an episode of I Dream of Jeannie from the other night, which featured a music video (for some reason...) that made me want to call for child services. But we won't because it's not quite as interesting, story-wise.

I suppose it's possible to find inspiration anywhere, but it's always a plus if it comes with bonus nostalgia and memories of cheese and biscuits.

Plotting

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 04:54:03 GMT

I really do fail completely at organisation. For instance, I've had quite a few ideas for semi-interesting posts in mind... but I haven't managed to get around to actually posting them. Or, uh, writing them in the first place.

So you're going to hear it first here: NEXT WEEK I SHALL BE ORGANISED.

Next week, I'll post at least three times. Next week, I'll start sorting out my beta-ing responsibilities. Next week, everything shall change. Sort of. A little bit.

I might even think a bit more about my vlog in advance, you never know. Speaking of vlogs (and of failing to organise oneself), here's my video for this week. It's writing week again and this time around, we're talking about plots and I'm talking about how I fail at planning them in advance:

Tell me all about the way you plot stories. Or make me feel better by telling me you don't and just dive in head-first while hoping for the best.

I shall be back next week with new improved organisation skills!

Holidays are too quick

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:00:32 GMT

Why yes, I was in Sydney with wonderfully loonish friends for four days recently. There shall be a more thorough re-cap of this even over the weekend, once more people have put their photos up. I should add that "More people" also includes me. At present, all of us fail on the photo front except crazedturkey.

I guess this means she's officially off the failboat. For now, at least. Also for now, please have this proof that I was in a place where people took daft pictures of each other:

Clockwise from the top left: emerald85, rigel_7, bathmat, me & crazedturkey

Suffice to say, the trip was fun and then I came home and made a video for fivedotnerds. Because it turns out I need help (and not just because I thought Tuesday was Wednesday).

And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to report my zero word count for GYWO this month...

A loonish miscellany

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:55:39 GMT

I declare today to be "graphic media day". Which is really just a fancy way of saying "Here are four photos and a video for you all". Because, really, I should be packing and making sure all my chargeable things are charged and so on.

And I do need to put time aside to do excited, loon-ish dances of loonish excitement.

Firstly, please accept this week's video for fivedotnerds. I call it "Zombies vs. Jam" but others might, more accurately, call it a sort-of review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Lost in Austen. There's a challenge of sorts issued towards the end, too.

And now for the pictures, two of which include me looking like unto a loon (which will explain the loonish dancing earlier on this post). Here we go...

Remember I was in a revue-type thing at work? Well, here's my costume from it. We did a Grease routine.

Dress-up day at work. Again. Sports theme, so I went for an eighties aerobics flashback. It looked better once I had the hot-pink headband on.
P.S. LOON.

I guess it's worth getting up at stupid hours on cold Winter's mornings to go for a hot-air balloon ride. There were actually seven balloons, but the Timothy only managed to capture six of them.

And finally, a fading sunset. I'm amazed I even managed to get a photo to come out in focus, given I was standing on tip-toe and sticking the camera out of the laundry window.

So there you go. And now, I really should go and pack if I intend to wear clothes while I'm in Sydney for the next four days...

In which I fail to build worlds at all, really

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:35:53 GMT

It's writing week at fivedotnerds! Again! I have no idea how it manages to roll around so quickly. How can three weeks pass by without my noticing them? It doesn't seem right.

It is also:

The last day of term

Practically the first day of my holidays

A dress-up day at work, therefore I am dressed up

Only a week until I'm in Sydney with LOOOOOOOOONS!!

More on that later. For now, please accept this video with numerous, vaguely-entertaining background noises, as well as my thoughts on world-building:

When it comes to world-building, I suffer from a sense of mis-placed achievement. If I were to sit there and map out the world and write pieces about the history and the culture, then my brain would decide that this is it. Hooray! We have done the work and the work is good.

Pity it's not a story, but you can't have everything. Or so they say.

Damn them.

Tell me all about your world-building. Or when you think it goes over-board. Or doesn't go far enough. You can throw in your plans for world-domination, if you wish - provided it's your own world you plan to dominate and not this one.

Shiny qua non

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:15:25 GMT

The problem is that I'm completely distracted by shiny stuff. For instance (as you would otherwise be unaware of it), I am going to tell you that I just spent ten minutes between the previous sentence and this one reading over information about the new iPhone.

The shiny, I am powerless to resist it.

But it's the shiny's fault, really. It's always so tempting; so tantalising; so... emblematic of the sine qua non. Without my shiny, I am nothing.

Which isn't quite true.

At least, I hope not.

But there's always something, isn't there? Something you need to make you feel more complete or better-equipped or on the edge of breakthrough technology. Or something.

(Hmmm, too many somethings. Perhaps the shiny is short-circuiting my internal thesaurus...)

In my case, however, there's often a missing step. For instance: I want the published book to my name without the unfortunate necessity of having to write and edit it in the first place. Or I want the amazing new job without having to bother with applying and interviewing and impressing. No matter what I have, I always want something else, preferably right now.

From all of this, I can only conclude that I'm lazy and easily-distacted. I may need help.

It could be good for the brain

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:21:52 GMT

Or it could not. I would, of course, be referring to over-thinking. I do it all the time. No seriously, All. The. Time. To offer a case in point: the reason I haven't written in this journal for the last week and a bit is because I keep over-thinking the process. Where normal people would just sit down and blog about things, I have to turn them over and examine them from all angles and ask them questions.

By which point, it's about two days later and the news, she is old.

The reason for most of this thinking? Oh, that would be the new blog I'm putting together for my work. Not to mention browsing through other writers' blogs. It's making me want to work out what should go on here, or if I should get a domain again... I don't know. And I still want to incorporate more videos into this thing, as a sort of complementary thing.

But I know I'll just end up over-thinking it, by which time it'll be a decade later and the internet will be, like, sooooooo passé.

Anyway, in news that isn't old and hasn't been over-thought (but does most definitely involve brains), I should mention that the fivedotnerds channel is under seige... by the undead.

The Story of the Zombie Invasion...
Monday /// Tuesday /// Wednesday /// Thursday /// Friday /// The End

Any tips on what we should do to survive the onslaught? I'm not sure I prepared myself well enough, really...

The Secret Beta Chronicles

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 02:03:08 GMT

Ever wondered what a beta does? Ever wondered how a beta lives their life? Is it all parts of speech and punctuation, or do we actually have fun?

To the last question, I say: Parts of speech and punctuation are fun. Punctuation especially.

This week, I thought I'd allow you all a glimpse into the world of a beta. And here it is: the very first episode of the Secret Beta Chronicles.

A Quick Ramble on Genre

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:59:53 GMT

Yes, genre, despite the fact that I kept referring to this video as "my thoughts on grammar". I have no idea why. It's not as though I'm obsessively interested in grammar or anything.

It's writing week again! The fact that this has rolled around so quickly disturbs me somewhat, mostly because it seems like the previous writing week was just a couple of days ago. Which leads to the further conclusion that the year is passing far too quickly.

On the up side, this means Winter may not drag out for as long as I fear it will. However, I'm not entirely sure I want the year to pass quite this quickly.

But to return to writing week and genre-not-grammar. In this video, I talk about genre, tropes, the prejudices of my university lecturers and... well, what more could you want, actually?

I'd love to know about everyone's favourite or most influential genres, too. Are there genres you love to read but would never write, for example? Tell me all. :D

A Case of the Sniffles

Thu, 28 May 2009 04:19:12 GMT

So my cold has gone from "Oh, how inconvenient to have a sniffly sort of thing right now" to "GAH am going to curl up in a corner and hope for imminent death". Hooray. However, it's not all bad, as I won't actually be returning to work until Monday, a fact that has led me to develop a cunning plan whereby I get over this thing by Friday, just in time to enjoy a sickness-free weekend.

Bonus points if I get over it by tonight, thus giving myself a three-day weekend. :D

Unsurprisingly, my sickliness made its way into my video this week thusly:

I actually managed to sound vaguely healthy while I was recording that.

Please feel free to share your tips for making yourself feel better when you're sick. There must be better ideas out there than just sitting on the couch eating junk food...