What are the 5 Things in your handbag that say YOU?

Its Friday afternoon and I've decided to start a new Blog Forward*.

So, after reading this article in the Courier Mail's blog dept, I decided to start a 'Blog Forward" of my own, for the Laydeez.

In this age of giant handbags, that are apparently wrecking our posture, women carry so much crap its astounding. BUT we carry it for a reason, and its always entertaining if nothing else to see women pull stockings, calculators, shoe polish and a spanner out of their bag as we search for our ringing mobile phone, which of course is buried at the bottom in the corner (naturally).

Five things in your handbag that speak about your life, (or are just quirky and interesting).

Mine are :

1. No less than 7 different Lipglosses, lipsticks and lip balms!
2. Nutrimetics Relaxing Lavender Pulse Point Stick
3. 2 x USB's
4. Panadol, Nurofen, Codral (old and new formula).
   
5. Misc jewlery - a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a dead necklace.

The whats and whys -

1. Who needs that many? How did I get them all? Plus I have a new one that hasn't quite made it into my bag...
2. Never go anywhere without it. Its my first port of call if I get a headache, you just rub the metal tip onto your temple and most of my headaches disperse.
3. Because I'm starting to accept that I'm a bit of a nerd actually! One has music which I listen to at work, the other has files/photos/anything else I might want to transfer at a moments notice...
4. I'm always finding random pain relief in my handbags. This is SO weird as I really try to avoid taking pills if I can (hence #2). Codral always seems to float around in my bag until the next bout of 'flu I get. Downside is I become a walking pharmacy and its always "does anyone have any (insert drug here)" and I feel compelled to say yes.
5. I HATE to be without a pair of earrings. On the rare occassion I forget to put some on, its handy to have a pair to shove in, even if they aren't as well thought out as some other choices. I would surmise that in a year of 365 days my ear lobes are nude approx 10 days.

I think womens handbags are a wealth of info, so I suspect the answers from others may be fun to read :)

So here's how it works - Of course there's rules, there's always rules.

~ Link to the person who tagged you.

~ Post the rules on your blog.

~ Write 5 Things in your handbag that say YOU .

~ Tag three people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.

~ Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

~ Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

(~ For the sake of brevity we'll allow multiples)

Obviously this can be extended to blokes if you know a man with a man-bag/backpack.

I'm tagging

Reanan @ Life As a..... 

K @ Life and Times of K 

Princess Emma @ PrincessEmma 

Mia Freedman @ Mamamia

Fiona @ http://littlelioness.net/ 

*A* @ Everything Under the Sun 

I know thats five, I'm just spreading the love! If I haven't tagged you and you want to play, feel free! Please link back so I can read yours though!

*I refuse to call it a meme, as the term "meme" was designed by Richard Dawkins (yes of God Delusion) to refer to a cultural reference that acts like a Gene, passed down through people ie like a folk song or hand clapping game. 

Hence, I do not think a list of things on someone's blog should be referred to as a "meme" as though that is the sole frame of reference.  /rant.

HouseKeeping x 2

Hey a few new features! Blogger has enabled embedded comment forms (through Blogger in Draft-See your Dashboard for more info) so I'm going to give it a try.

Worst draw back seems to be that you can't tick the box "subscribe to comments"

Let me know if you particularly miss this feature, and we might switch back to the old format until they've worked that kink out. The next feature may help however....

I've added a "Recent Comments" widget, courtesy of Amanda at Blogger Buster. (This is a TOP site, if you want to do something tricky on your Blogger blog, pop over and have a squizz at her widgets and template hacks, they're pretty straightforward) It will show the last ten comments across all posts. Unfortunately it doesn't ignore me though.

I've really wanted this feature for ages as its quite common on Typepad blogs. I've put it up the top of the sidebar for the moment, but it will probably migrate lower in a week or so.

So if anything looks weird for a bit, bear with me, I'm tinkering a bit, just hit refresh and the weirdness may disappear. :)

Oh the shame!

While you people are all out there, living your lives like normal people, I am trapped. Trapped by a dark secret that I fear people can smell on me. I am, one of THEM.
One day I was listening to the radio, and I was struck down by this affliction. I was taken unawares, and before I knew it I was bopping and thinking "this song is really good!".
The song ended, the DJ spoke......

I like Miley Cyrus^.

I wish it wasn't so! If I could change, I would! I assure you!

I really really like her "See you Again" song though! I know all the words to the chorus now! I downloaded it so I can listen to it whenever I want! I'm listening right now!~Its so shameful! I just want to hide away from the world until it goes away. If you haven't heard the song, you can listen via You Tube and vote.

poll by twiigs.com

^I don't like Miley Cyrus in general, just this one song. (so far?)

How to have a successful blog

Oh so this is what I'm doing wrong. Not talking enough about "the wimenz" LOL
Oh and I should be doing blow-by-blows about dating. Whoops.

Thanks to Kim at Larvatus Prodeo for the heads up

Let's just say....

Let's just say your friends were having a party...

Let's just say it was an important occassion for them...

Let's just say you were involved in the planning for said party...

Let's just say there was a very nice bar you helped choose wine for...

Let's just say you didn't eat enough...

Let's just say you owe some friends an apology...

Let's just say you spent the next day in bed...

Let's just say your stomach is actually still recovering (4 days later...)...

Let's just say you won't drink like that again.....this year....

Thanks to GLH Lets just say device....

Skills you can't put on your resume

We've all got them. Things that you're good at, talents we have that no one cares about for the most part. Usually they won't get you anywhere in life. Forget about putting them on your resume, and don't rush out and register your ABN in a hurry; this skill simply isn't marketable, because no one would ever pay you to do it.

Some skills of mine I'm particularly proud of, but are essentially a giant waste of head space:

~ I can learn the words to a song on the radio relatively quickly. I find myself really listening to songs, hearing the words so I can sing them back later.
This translates into driving along in the car, singing along to songs my husband says he's never even heard before. (In the same vein, I can remember the words to songs years later, and sing along quite well. I have no idea where these talents come from, as I wouldn't class myself as musically inclined at ALL.)
~ I can unpack my trolley onto the conveyer belt at the supermarket into shopping bag sections. I line up everything as I take it out of the trolley, and if I watch as the checkout person packs it, they can go along the belt and pack it exactly like I unloaded.
* pet hate #423- When they ignore my belt layout and shove everything in every which-way. Grr! >:-Z

I'm sure there are millions out there - Perhaps the ability to slice a cucumber perfectly straight, and yet no other vegetables (making you a useless Chef). Perhaps you can perfectly time your coast to the red traffic light so that you don't have to fully stop? I knew a guy who, when he changed lanes with those little bumpy dots, he could time it perfectly to avoid them.

What are yours?

Why care What Not To Wear

I don't watch "What not to wear" by Trinny and Susannah. I'll say that first off.

What I don't understand though, if why ANYONE would listen to them, as they go out themselves in some atrocious gear!
1 ~ Perfectly nice grey suit, if a little too flared in the pant, but with a PRINT DRESS over the top!
Green dress over white shirt. Not the end of the world, but just not neccessary!
2 ~ Solo Trinny, in her best impersonation of an Irish Tablecloth. See here for larger image. You'll also find the green is sequinned!
3 ~ I think this is meant to be a promo image. As such, I can only assume that Trinny is "What NOT, and Susannah is "What TO". Honestly, I love hot pink more than most, but even I don't go around shoving it under leopard print and expect a good result! Susannah is making her look like a teenager run amok in Supre.

4 ~ These are all the wonder full Trinny. Playing Beattie Bow??
5 ~ A taffeta creation, in a homage to M*A*S*H- for that formal event in the Mess Hall. Leave your weapons at the door; they ruin the line of the gown.
6 ~ Red sack? Hey, its ok, we all have fat days sometimes.

*Scream* Get them off Tv! How can they be advising anyone!

Finger Sandwich?

I heard on the news this morning that Princess Mary and Frederick are attending Wimbeldon today as spectators and will be viewing from "the royal box".
This got me to thinking about what the etiquette between royalty from seperate countries is nowadays. When I think of royalty and the idea of one Crown Prince calling on a Queen of another nation (in this case), I think we have a tendency to think back to Elizabethan or Victorian eras. You suddenly imagine everyone with giant dresses with powdered faces. However we KNOW the Queen is more fond of a Pill-box hat than she is a hoop-skirt, so already my imaginings are way out of sync.
I wonder whether Fredericks "people" have to call the Queen's "people" as a courtesy before they arrive. Is it seen as a hostile act to simply turn up at Buckingham Palace for a visit? AND is it "snubbing" the Queen if they popped over into London for a weekend and didn't come by to say hello?

In a modern sense, do we assume "the royal box" is to mean Mary and Frederick will be sitting with the Queen (if she attends) and Charles & Camilla? Perhaps Mary and Frederick will be lumped at the "kids table" with William, Harry, Kate Middleton and the other girl (whats Harry's gf's name? The slapper one?). They'll return to Denmark with tales of the boys rough-housing in their suits, and the girls whispering behind their hands, pointing at them occassionally so they know they're being talked about.

I wonder how many traditions survive through the ages. I kind of like the idea of "my guy called your guy, and said it was ok if we crashed your box today"

Winners are grinners!

No obviously I don't mean State of Origin. I am well and truly crying over that.

No,

EBay drops PayPal bid

As a result, direct deposits, personal cheques and money orders will continue to exist as allowing all existing payment methods on eBay.com.au.

Woot Woot!!

When does a Receptionist start being a PA?

Having mixed feelings on this one.

Basic run down : From Jezebel

Tamara Klopfenstein was hired to be a receptionist/data entry clerk.
After working for a few weeks, her (male) bosses asked her to get their coffee for them. She declined, and her manager e-mailed her, saying:

"This is not open for debate. Please don’t make an easy task a big deal."

Klopfenstein felt that getting coffee "reinforced outdated gender stereotypes," so the next day, when she was asked to get coffee again, she sent an e-mail that read:

"I don't expect to serve and wait on you by making and serving you coffee every day."

Nine minutes later, she was fired. Klopfenstein promptly sued the company for sexual discrimination and sexual harassment.
The judge ruled: "The act of getting coffee is not, by itself, a gender-specific act," and dismissed the case. But Klopfenstein's attorneys argue that "Some tasks are inherently more offensive to women."

Slightly more background, from Classical Values adds

In her suit, she claims that the office environment was tinged with sexism from the very beginning when a vice president of the company made a note after her initial interview that she "looks nice, dresses well."

After just a few weeks on the job, Klopfenstein claims that a male co-worker invited her to lunch in an e-mail that said

"I feel bad you have been working here for a couple of weeks and we haven't gotten to know each other yet."

I will add here that these two points are part of her argument for a "hostile work environment" but :
A> There is nothing wrong with noting that presentation is good, when you are front-of-house. When I was present for interviews for a Reception co-worker we saw some shocking outfits on the candidates, and I recommended against them partly on that criteria. As it was, the girl we hired still occasionally dressed inappropriately for a receptionist (reasons to ignore fashion trends when dressing for work!!!), but she was well presented at interview.
B> He may have been asking her for a date (she feels he was), but all she needs to do is politely decline. Unless her boss TOLD that guy to ask her out, her employer has little to do with it. If he isn't asking her on a date, there is nothing untoward about a co-worker asking her if she wants to have lunch, to help her settle in.

Now there's a bit of debate going on at both those sites, and over at Ask A Manager, where I first encountered this story. I'm kind of torn. Some commentators are saying Klopfenstein is being too precious, a bit spoilt brat.
While I agree with the following points which can be argued

1. She was only six weeks into her position. She should be a bit more flexible with her duties.
2. Not everything you do in your job is actually IN your job description, that doesn't mean you don't do it.
3. The receptionist can be a bit of a shit kicker.
4. If her second email (above) was verbatim, and that's ALL it said, her email manner definitely needs work. (And lunch-co-worker's email manner possibly needs work also if he hasn't conveyed his platonic message well enough)

However part of me still thinks she did the right thing. Her job description was Receptionist/Data Entry. I don't think she has to assume "personal/executive assistant" in there. (I include Executive as it appears she was asked to get more than one person [assuming higher management] their coffee). There is debate about the difference in whether she would have had to make or simply fetch the coffee. If its making it, is it plunger/carafe/drip filter/instant. I personally think its irrelevant how difficult the task is, BUT I do think its pertinent, if is IS fetching as to whether she was already going to get coffee.
I am the one that gets coffee every morning in my office. There are exactly 4 employees in my office however. Only three of us drink coffee, and I usually only have to buy 2 coffees, and obviously one is for me. I have coffee every morning. So it makes exactly NO difference to me how many I buy whilst I'm there. I don't pay for them all, I collect money before I go, its a complete non-issue.
I have noticed however, that if I don't go right away, no one is leaping to say "I'll get the coffee this morning". Its not a big deal though.

I used to work for a much larger company as the receptionist. After doing things I hated, that I didn't think I should have had to do, for the entire time I was there, I can see why, six weeks into a position, she would hold her ground and say she didn't want to be the coffee-getter. I don't think its unreasonable to try to set a precedent that there's things you don't want to do, because if you can foresee that its something you're never going to warm to as a task, and you think you can get out of it, then I say go for it. Its always harder to say "I don't want to do X Task" if you've been doing it for a while already.
I was lucky, I had a boss that had been managing Reception long enough to recognise the tasks we should and shouldn't have been doing, and shielded us from being someone else's shit-kickers. (Because we were HER shit-kickers of course)

So on one hand I say, good on her, she shouldn't be doing that crap. But on the other hand, I can see how this would easily fall into the scope of her job. But I also struggle to imagine them asking a guy to do it in the same position. I also can't help but think that this makes her a PA, not just a Receptionist. Theoretically there should be enough Reception work for her to be too busy to be running off to get/make coffee.

At my old job, the CEO and CFO shared a PA (technically making her an EA in my book) and one of her duties was to make coffee for them both. Firstly there was a drip filter which was for their coffee ONLY. Under pain of death, you were not allowed to drink that coffee. Later the company bought an automatic Espresso machine for general staff use, and she made it using that.
However if she wasn't in, they made their own. If she was not in the office, I could be asked to make it, and I did (because by hell you jumped if they asked) but only if the phone wasn't unattended, and it was usually only if they had a guest. BUT If there was no one else to answer the phone, that was my primary duty.

Its a grey area really, but I can't blame her for trying to make it black and white.

So, over to you, what do you think?

Crazy Japanese shoes

Got an email forward from my mum today with some crazy shoes which are apparently all the rage in Japan: ** Fetish Shoes - See update at bottom

(These are actually kind of awesome, and I wants them. At least, the part of me that is none-too-concerned about falling flat on my face every three steps, wants them. My pride is calling out for some respect though)

These remind me of these Balenciaga shoes Rihanna wore

I don't know whether they're real shoes for sale, I can only guess by the style of the shots that they are. I've spoken before on my hate of unsubstantiated emails being sent around, and investigation of this finds no obvious "these shoes aren't real" claims.

They have featured on a few shoe blogs however, where I also found these gems to the left. They almost look like the formal shoe for the dedicated ballerina.

M's godson, Ryder

(yeah ok this seems random in the middle of a post about shoes, but go with me)

is walking around now, as children at 18 months old are prone to do. The weird thing is though, that one of his feet he walks with his toes all curled over. You've seen those ballet movies like Centre Stage (did you know that was written by Judy Nunn aka Ailsa from Home and Away?) where you see the obligatory shot of them bending their toes right over "warming up". Like that. I'm intrigued as to what it means.

I also found this shot, from The Shoe Blog contributor jitterbugbaby on a holiday IN Japan. While this is possibly the fuggiest look in the world, I do LOVE these shoes (you probably need to click through to see them better).
She also saw this awesome pair of heels with JEWELRY for Shoes! Does it get any better?

As you can imagine, the Google Image Search of "Crazy Japanese Shoes" yeilds plenty of material of a meaningful nature, as well as batshit-crazy. But I will leave you with these wonderful images, of which I also cannot verify their authenticity, but if true, are enough to turn your stomach.

**UPDATE

As it has been drawn to my attention that these are actually fetish shoes, I found that "ballet boots" even have their own Wiki article.
Indeed the article tells us-

Ballet boots and shoes are not, however, intended for prolonged standing or walking. Instead, they act as a fetish object for sexual gratification, heightening the erotic appeal with the elements of bondage and submission. They are thus sometimes used in BDSM play. For example, someone may be put in predicament bondage by being placed in suspension bondage arranged so that he or she must either hang by the arms or rest all of the body's weight on the toes. The boots, however, can cause enough discomfort by themselves: shortly after they are donned, the calves often begin to cramp and sting from overexertion if the wearer is not used to them. International Fetish Model Charlotte Brooke has walked around at FetishCon (a bondage and fetish convention) for a full 9 hour day.

Thanks to Lou and Network Geek for illuminating us :)
(To purchase a pair, see Lou for Oz, or Network Geek for the USA)

Horror movie right there in my.....brain

(In case the song lyric is a bit too obscure for you.....)
I had awful dreams last night. It was like my brain was determined to scare the crap out of me. I think it stemmed from two things.

A_Right before we went to bed, M showed me a text message he got on his phone, a creepy hoax forward thing "we're watching you, pay us or die" VERY FREAKY
B_I went to the gym in the evening, and I hate walking around at night by myself. I convince myself that I'm going to be attacked by a random stranger and spend the 3 minutes it takes me to walk back up the hill, freaking out and walking quickly whilst looking over my shoulder. This is worse on some days than others, and yesterday I happened to notice two guys sitting in a parked car. This is all it takes to set me off. Normally I can rationalise to myself that I have a fighting chance when its 1 on 1, but 2 on 1, odds are not so good. So you can see where my brains going here.

Obviously got home without incident, but the added layer of worry with the weird text message on M's phone meant for some strange dreams.

My first dream (that I remember) I was at a house party, and there were about six girls (I think some were old primary school friends LOL) and we decided to watch a movie. I think I protested that I didn't want to watch a horror movie, but they assured me it wasn't that scary. As the film progressed however, it most certainly WAS a horror movie, with an awful plot, and the scenery looked like the house in Hostel, if you've seen it. Since I was dreaming I felt like I was IN the horror movie as well, eventually to the point of someone's face melting in my hands.
I think at this point I was so freaked out mentally, I told my brain I didn't want to watch the movie anymore (in the dream). I think this was my initial attempt to "tell myself to wake up" except I've never been very good at that in dreams.
So Dream-me tells my friends I'm not wtching anymore, and the horror movie morphs into the "main" part of the dream, and its all bad and the girl I'm sitting with tries to kill me before I run screaming, and at this point I successfully manage to tell my conscious brain that I want to wake up, I don't like this dream. So I did, and I was kind of groggy, but I could tell it was early enough that if I wasn't careful and I woke up TOO much, I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep for the few hours until I needed to get up.

The problem with this was though, that everytime I tried to go back to sleep the dream would come back, in the middle of the awfulness, so I tried to think of happy thoughts to distract myself. I particularly remember singing that Colbie Calait song "Bubbly" in my head and seeing the video, which is pretty and romantic, and light and sunny.
This ended up with me imagining a serial killer standing behind Colbie Calait slitting her throat.
I know, charming isn't it.
I think there was lots of stabbing and acid and burning and screaming in this dream, I was feeling quite terrified at the idea of slipping back into it.

M ended up getting up sometime around then, so I woke myself up properly and focused on the sounds of him, which allowed me to drift bak to sleep without the terrible images of singers being gutted.

Cue second dream. This one feels like a Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter movie rolled together, very fantastic and otherworldly. Vivid colour, lots of green, whereas the last dream was all brown, sepia and dank feeling. Somehow I manage to piss off an ogre thing and he spends the rest of the movie trying to get me, before trying to drown me in this giant lake.
Then I wake up and think "wtf" I'm getting up now, I don't care WHAT time it is.

So feeling a little mentlly exhausted now, which explains why I forgot to bring something to work that a friend was going to pick up. Gah!

Housekeeping.

Howdy!
Same blog, new colours :)
Let me know if you hate it. hehehe

Also, I've condensed all the tags into one item on the sidebar. So now if you want to read more about a topic, you can either

• select the tag from the bottom of a post
• Click Tag List- Show All in the sidebar.

I'm still searching for an easy way to convert my template to a stretch Three-Column if anyone has any hints. All the walkthroughs I've found so far look kind of tricky, and I am not that techy.

Has Foxtel taken over? Or is it simply spin marketing

I get the feeling my household (ok there's two of us) is part of an ever-shrinking demographic.
Somehow gradually it feels like people who don't have Pay Tv (what Australian's call "cable") are being pushed into the outer, in mainstream media.
Are we really so backward because we don't have it? We're still of the mindset that having Pay tv (hereafter referred to as Foxtel, since its the main provider) is a luxury, not a neccessity. Unlike the impression I get from US programming, Free-to-air isn't that bad in Oz. At least, I should preface that with "during prime time (6pm-10.30pm)". I'm sure daytime and 2am programming is better on Foxtel than free-to-air, but when I lived at home I frequently found we watched Free-to-air, not Foxtel, during prime-time anyway.

I can only assume, with the barrage of advertising for shows, on channels we don't get, that we must be a minority now, rather than a majority.

Some examples recently

• Kristy Hinze (pronounced Hin-z, not Heinz like the beans) promoting the start of Project Runway on Arena (starting July 7) on the radio.

• Pay Tv has its own awards here, much like the Daytime Emmy's in the US I imagine. That's fine and all, except they're also encroaching on The Logies, with Love my Way winning Best series for 2007 (Channel W).
• Then in 2008, both Best Actor and Actress were from Shows on Foxtel channels- Stephen Curry for The King (TV1) and Alison Whyte on Satisfaction, (Showcase). They don't even have a "Subscription" category, they just take over Free-to-air!

But I digress.

So what the cold hard facts of the matter? Are we a minority or a majority? Is Free-to-air dying a slow and painful death?
Well in 2005 :

Free TV exists in 99% of Australian homes, with 67% of Australians owning two or more TVs. Pay TV penetration has remained fairly stable (at around 24%) despite the publicity push that came with the launch of Foxtel’s digital offering in March last year.

This is an interesting look at how the introduction of "digital" Foxtel affected the rate at which households took it up. (And where's the other 1%? People that live in boxes?)

The common misconception is that half of TV’s entire viewing audience is watching pay TV, but that figure only identifies “eyeballs” within pay homes. 75% of homes do not have pay TV.

“I find agency chiefs and clients saying, ‘Well pay TV has 50% of the audience’. No it hasn’t. It’s got 50% of viewing of the households who do switch on to pay TV,” Allen explains.

Aha. So Foxtel are simply spinning their figures to make it look like "everyone" has Pay-Tv. When in reality, only a quarter of homes do, and of that quarter, they watch Free-to-air HALF the time!
That's not a stat to be proud of really, no wonder they're not waving it around.

A more recent stat, as at June 07 (most recent figures from the Australian Film Commission) 2,082,128 households had some form of Pay-tv.

This is a penetration of approximately 26 per cent of all Australian households.

So not much growth in 2006. Who knows what Pay-tv will do in the future however, as in DEC 1995, stats were as such

Foxtel 2,000

Optus 1,000

Austar 0

Australis Media 62,000

=

65,000

One can assume Austar didn't quite exist yet, and another company altogether (since gone bust) had the lions share.

Vastly different to the breakdown even in 2000

703,000

220,000

421,000

-

=

1,344,000

So if in Dec 2000 there were 1,344,000 subscribers, and in June 2007 there were 2,082,128 it stands to reason there will be another 700, 000 subscribers by 2014, give or take population growth, and not applying any other principle to the formula. That's what, 7% I think of the population. Not exactly exploding then is it?

So. We're NOT in the minority because we don't have Foxtel. The way the figures are going in fact, we may never get Foxtel.

So why does it feel like everyone BUT us has Foxtel? Because they're sneaky. Because they WANT us to feel like we're the ones left out. Damn marketing genius.
OR, maybe we're simply in an affluent area. I'm leaning toward the marketing.

Do you have pay tv?
Do you want it if you don't?
If you DO, do you feel its really worth it? From what I can see, we'd be looking at a price per month of AT LEAST $88.80. That's $1065.60 a year. My gym membership costs less than that!

Wordle

Click on image to make it bigger?

A fun little excerise at Wordle it works by submitting any words you like, and it makes them this little picture with colour variation, fonts and direction all changeable options. I put my tags in, to make the picture above :)
For some time-wastin' fun, just pop on by, its Free!!

We've been had....

And not in the fun-and-sexy kind of way. In the, you've-been-duped kind of way.
Thanks to *A* for bringing this to my attention. Unfortunately it appears that the Undiscovered Tribe is not quite so undiscovered after all.

Yahoo Buzz details

As it turns out, the story is only half true. The men in the photo are members of a tribe, but it certainly ain't "lost." In fact, as the photographer, José Carlos Meirelles, recently explained, authorities have known about this particular tribe since 1910. The photographer and the agency that released the pictures wanted to make it seem like they were members of a lost tribe in order to call attention to the dangers the logging industry may have on the group.

I did kind of know this I guess, the part about trying to find evidence of them to prevent logging. I didn't however, know about the 1910 part. Hmmm.
Oh well. Nothing is as it seems on the net hey....

We're going on holidays, did I tell you?

I woke up this morning, feel hungover, of all things. And yes, I do have the right day, its Monday. I haven't drunk any booze since Friday night, so I can only imagine it was severe dehydration, which even in itself, makes no sense, since I drank no less last night than any other night.
Odd.

We got a new laptop computer at home. Yay!
I wanted to take a picture with the webcam, and use it as the post, but I keep forgetting, getting distracted with all its other features. It has bluetooth, and a DVD drive, and a webcame built into the top of the screen. Its all very exciting. We've only had it a week, and its already got the majority of our CD collection on its hard-drive (160GB).
Woot.
So now I can blog from home again, whee! Our primary reason for getting it, other than the fact we were in need of a home computer, is that we're going to Europe in 9 weeks (Yes NINE WEEKS!) and we want to take it with us, so we can upload our photos as we go, and download our video and photos off the camera, making more space.
Our theory is that we're doing a bus tour, and then driving ourselves around, so it should be too painful to lug around.
Here's for hoping anyways :)

For those interested here is the bus part of our tour, in handy map form (I'm a pictures person)

I'm trying to get excited.
It was exciting when we decided to do it.
It was exciting when we put our deposit down.
It was less exciting and more stressful when we were frantically saving to pay the tour off in time for the early payment discount.
Now I'm trying to find the enthusiasm again. NOT to say that I don't want to go anymore, certainly not, more that it doesn't really feel like we're going, since we paid all the money, its just ...*gone*. Do you know what I mean?

So anyway, I'm hoping to blog while we're away, and not the "hey we saw the Eiffel Tower today, wow, its certainly huge hey?"
But more, about the little things, the coffee (of course), the weird customs, weird people, stuff like that.
Any thoughts? We've got plenty of time before we go remember :)

Lexophiles; come close

The longest word in the English dictionary is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, which Wikipedia helpfully provides as

a 45-letter word which refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of very fine silica particles, specifically from a volcano. Research has discovered that this word was originally a hoax. It has since been used in a close approximation of its originally intended meaning, lending at least some degree of validity to its claim

How wonderful is that? You can make up a word, and it might still count. There's hope for us plebs yet.

The longest recognised place name, Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

(88 letters - Wiki Entry here)And of course you can't talk about really long words without mentioning our old favourite, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (34 letters- Wiki), but its not a real word and is only included in dictionaries as a Proper Noun, the name of a song.

(Funnily, Blogger's built in Dictionary recognises Super..... but not the two official words above...)

Ella..ella..ella

This is my favourite song at the moment. I had a major jones a while ago for Mika's song, Happy Ending, and now its Rihanna. SO ANNOYING, this song has been released but isn't on her album, which I already own. They're going to Re-Release Good Girl Gone Bad, with this song included as a bonus track. I really hate when record companies do this, and it happens with DVD's also. By releasing the same thing with added features, essentially they're punishing the :suckers: (me) who were stupid enough to buy the first version, which ipso facto, MADE THE ALBUM POPULAR ENOUGH TO RE-RELEASE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
How stupid do they think consumers are! Its frustrates me no end.

Gah! *breathe*

Also, when you watch it, look toward the end, is she wearing a lace leotard/body stocking?

I don't like this clip. Looking for it to post here was the first time I'd seen it, and I'm terribly disappointed in it. She looks mannish for most of it.
I really liked her haircut for Umbrella, but this version I think has overstepped that oh-so-careful line of edgy/manly. And I think she looks too thin, unhealthy, whereas in Umbrella, she has quite the hippy silhouette, and I was rejoicing the return of the curve. *sigh* she has fallen victim to celebrity thinness though.

Another thing I noticed in this video is Rhianna has a tattoo on her neck. I quite like it!
I know another girl who has the Southern Cross tattooed on her neck, not quite in the same place as this one, more under her ear, and larger than this, say thrice the size.
I'm not a fan I must say. I think the Southern Cross is way over-used in Australian culture, I've seen that many tattoos of it.

I still kind of want a tattoo. Friends of ours, the girl wants a tattoo, and she was thinking of having her son's name and birthdate done. But it sets a dangerous precedent doesn't it? All your children deserve real estate on your body somewhere then don't they? And what do you tell them? "Sweetheart Mummy doesn't have your name because she was a giant wuss and it hurt too much after the first one"

I just couldn't decide what to get. My sister recently equated the pain of a brazilian wax to a tattoo. Her argument being, if you can put up with the torture of having your lady garden ripped out piece by piece, surely you can endure a red hot needle jabbing you repeatedly. I just don't know, she hasn't actually had a tattoo so.....

Perhaps LadyLou can shed some light for us?

I remember being in high school and for a period it seemed all my friends were getting tattoos (if she jumped off the Harbour Bridge...). More to the point they were all getting great tattoos. Relevant, suited-them-down-to-the-ground type tattoos that they were unlikely to regret. At the time I was kind of into spiderwebs, I would doodle them often, and they became a (admittedly very small) trademark for me. So I was actively encouraged to get a spiderweb....somewhere.

In retrospect, I'm very glad I didn't because it would be so irrelevant now. The only thing I keep coming back to for an idea is my star sign, Libra, as I know that's never going to change at least.

(here's that Google Image Search. Tattoo image searches certainly are fraught with danger aren't they? Look for the woman with the breasts....)

Oh well. :)
*text colour edited

We're suckers.

Ok, I'll wear that.
Apparently,

RESTAURANTS using fancy typeface on their menus can often get away with fancy prices too with people perceiving complicated font to mean complex food that needs greater skills to prepare.

Researchers at the University of Michigan found people believed if that if the font was harder to read then the task was harder to do.

Looked at the other way, researchers said this meant that clear font was likely to lead to the perception that the task was simple and people were more able to complete it.

My example, that I whipped up, shown below. (Forgive the terrible graphic, my ability in this is extremely limited.)


Yep, I reckon its probably true. The Left could be in a restaurant, the same menu on the right looks like it could be on the chalkboard at the pub, with the addition of "Schnitzel or Steak $10 Tuesday".

Gordon Ramsay deals a lot with issues like this on Kitchen Nightmares. Especially when there's a restaurant that is failing because they're trying to be too fancy in a small town that can't understand their menu. I'm an avid watcher so this is less surprising for me than someone else possibly. A particluar episode I recall, the chefs were all French, and they were trying to do Fine Dining, in a town in Scotland that couldn't understand what they were meant to be eating.

Return of the tree sap.

Six months ago I did a post on whether Lemons were the answer. Now someone hasn't done their homework at the Daily Telegraph and is trying to make it sound like Tania Zaetta has only JUST become a spokeperson for this product.
Piffle.

*nb, the entire point of the lemon post was that I would attempt to boost my metabolism by drinking lemon in water first thing in the morning.
Sadly, I never even managed ONE glass of the stuff. Oh how quickly we fail.....LOL

Best movie of its genre

As compiled by the American Film Institute. (so no foreign films of course)

Courtroom drama

1. To Kill a Mocking Bird

Epic

1. Lawrence of Arabia

Science fiction

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey

Fantasy

1. The Wizard of Oz

Mystery

1. Vertigo

Sports

1. Raging Bull

Romantic comedies

1. City Lights

Animation

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Gangster

1. The Godfather

Western

1. The Searchers

Easily view the Top 5 for each genre here at News.com.au
Compiled by American Film Institute, their listing here but I will warn you, its a bit click here, then here etc. BUT there is a cool quiz, and you can take it over and over because it doesn't give you the correct answer.
Leave your score below and I'll tell you mine. :)

No surprise really...

After seeing K's results on this quiz, I gave it a go.

Greed:	Medium
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Low
Sloth:	Medium
Envy:	Medium
Lust:	High
Pride:	Very Low

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Thanks for the link K, entertaining stuff. :)

Exercise/lay on couch eating crisps.....decisions decisions

I am struggling lately, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Its cold, its wet* and rainy, and going to the gym isn't high on the priority list right now. My utmost sympathies to Fiona down in canberra, apparently its 3 degrees down there. YUK!
So yes, the snowy pic above is a gross exaggeration, I'm probably only going to encounter sub-10 degree temperatures if I want to venture out after work to go the gym. It is Sydney after all.

But I've been trying to go. I even managed to go before work the other week. Its got to be at least 12 degrees in my bedroom in the morning right? How can I be expected to get up in that? hahaha.

Another difficulty I've faced is not entirely unexpected. Compliments.
Yep, you heard me. I'm a strange and twisted beast, that rather than feeling re-inspired by compliments, I feel more inclined to slack off. The fruits of my labour two months ago have started to take effect it appears, in the form of a slightly more trim physique, and loss of some (not all) of the dreaded back fat. I am re-claiming my waist!
So I've had a couple of people make a small remark about it, you know, you're looking good/you've lost weight etc. (Aside- Funny how people always say diplomatically "you look really good!" with a bright smile, when we all know they mean have you lost weight. All we can do is take it on the chin, and say thank you, and feel rewarded for our efforts. LOL)

Anywho, so my efforts have been noticed, and as a result, I'm slobbing around a bit more! Damn! This is not the desired effect! I should be thinking "Yay It's working! Go and burn more calories and you'll look even better!" but, no.
Instead my brain tells me "Nah you've done some good work, you earned that donut. Yes, wash it down with a sugary soft drink, and how about those Twisties, you earned them too..."
So now I'm trying to focus a bit on how good exercising makes me feel, and how I feel less tired all the time when I do.
I must not fall off the wagon this winter! Who's with me!?!

*"...and I'm just plain scared!"
For those of you playing at home