random bb hotness

We have a Big Brother related Random Hotness today! Big thanks go to AllAussieBoys for posting the images and Ticicy for making the screen caps in the first place. I haven't really had much to say in the BB oeuvre since my first couple of random rants... Emma is a snotty cow and needs to be booted (preferably in the head, but out of the house will do), most of the people I've wanted to be booted at any given Eviction have been, Travis has proven my earlier claim that he should never talk, ever... and my favourite housemate remains Thomas.

But even though these shots happened... ooooooh... nearly two weeks ago now, I just love the dynamic and had to share. It all happened when resident gayboy Nick was nominated for eviction (and was evicted last Sunday).

Anyway, Nick was taking his nomination badly (like you do) and had gone straight into the bathroom... while he was washing his hands Thomas just came up behind him, didn't say anything, but put his arms around Nick (the first shot) and essentially folded himself around him. For a second Nick just kept doing what he was doing and held himself "rigid" for want of a better term, but then he hit that moment where he gave up and he just closed his eyes and melted into the hug (the second shot). But then who wouldn't melt into a hug from Thomas... it's just a whole world of AWWWWWWWWW!

nick and thomas - bb07nick and thomas - bb07

Current Mood: mmmmmm hotness

reason, season, lifetime

Reason, Season and Lifetime
by Brian A. "Drew" Chalker

People always come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, or to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally, or even spiritually. They may seem like a godsend to you, and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they just walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON, it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season. And like Spring turns to Summer and Summer to Fall, the season eventually ends.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons; those things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person/people (anyway); and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life.
from friends and lovers by howard roffmanI was flicking through my "blogging notebook" a few days ago when I realised I'd made a note about a particular post idea, but I'd never carried it through. To be honest, I only really used the whole notebook idea for a little while I got over it. Usually I either blog about stuff on the spot when it's all fresh in my mind and I'm fired up about it, whatever it happens to be, or it just falls by the wayside and never gets blogged about.

But maybe this one is worth making the effort about. At least as a "stream of consciousness" post if nothing else (and, since I ended up writing pretty much all of it in Notepad at work, it kept me occupied).

As I started to think about the whole idea, I also went and re-found the piece at the top of this post, the Reason, Season and Lifetime text... I read it originally when it was doing the internet/email rounds a few years back (and it's nice to see that it's author has actually stepped up and claimed credit of it, hence why I included his name), and it made a fair amount of sense to me... in fact I think I ended up making it all fancy and printing it out to stick up in my office cubicle. Lord only knows where that piece of paper is now.

To be honest though, the original genesis of this idea goes back to sometime after my birthday when I watched Clerks II... specifically the bit at the end they're talking about their friendship... and I will freely admit that that whole scene made me tear up.

So, that, combined with the Reason stuff led me to realise something.

I just don't keep people in my life.

I have no best friend that I've known since childhood. I never kept in contact with any of the people I knew from any of my school days. I don't have a real connections with any of my extended family. Once I leave a workplace I might meet former workmates for a drinks session once or twice, but once I'm gone, I'm pretty much just gone. Sure, I'll say hi if I run into somebody in the street (unless of course I couldn't stand them), but I don't keep in contact with anybody for long.

When I moved out of home and started going out on the gay scene, I never really acquired a gay best friend... I mean, at the time I had Ludo fulfilling all my best friendly needs, so I didn't really need another one, gay or otherwise (foolishly thinking that Ludo was going to be a Lifetime kind of friend, when instead he turned out to be a self-absorbed pain in the butt), so it just never happened. Then, when I came back for my second run at the scene some years later, I once again had various other people fulfilling the best friendly duties, who, like Ludo, weren't actually gay, and, like Ludo, have also vanished out of my life.

There are some notable exceptions to the "don't keep people around" rule... Raury is one, he started off as a workmate way back when, and has been in and out of my life ever since... and he probably would still be around in some shape or form if he hadn't either died (well, I haven't heard anything in forever, so it's a possibility) or vanished off the face of the planet yet again (which will make it around the third or so time he's done the vanishing thing for a period of time)... J is really the only other major one, although he's very much on the other side of the planet, and even if he does find his way back to this hemisphere and/or country, I very much doubt it will be to a geographically convenient place (ie, it won't be here in Adelaide).

But even they both seem to have turned into "Reason or Season" people (well, Raury certainly... the jury is technically still out on J)... especially since, from my experience, Reason people sometimes turn into Season people, or at the very least they start out as Reason people but then some of them hang around for a long time. Although that could just be me, keeping folks around the place longer than they need to be.

Maybe the whole thing is me... I mean, I know I'm not always the easiest person to be around or to be friends with (I can, on occasion, I guess, be somewhat, well, high maintenance... who would have guessed), so maybe when the opportunity comes up, they grab the chance to leave with both hands and run off into the wide blue yonder. Even Lownee, who I would have sworn, come hell, high water or inconvenient amounts of either distance or Ludo (and seriously, by the end, ANY amount of Ludo was inconvenient) would have been a Lifetime person, even she disappeared into the ether without so much as a backwards glance.

Maybe it's all part of my Karmic lessons/experience this time around... maybe I'm supposed to go through life pretty much unconnected from the people in it.

Seriously, with the grand exception of Ma, I really don't have any connections... nothing ongoing and meaningful in the here and now anyway.

The whole situation has, at various points throughout my life, bummed me out in varying degrees... I have complained on more than one occasion (okay, technically I can only actually remember one big whinge to another person about it, but there have probably been others) about the lack of a gay best friend... just somebody roughly the same age as me (plus or minus 10% standard deviation), whom I'm not attracted to (or, at least, not very much), who's not in a relationship, who I can go out and do "gay" things with... nothing sexual (hence the "not attracted" thing), just clubbing (although I think that boat has sailed, and my clubbing days, at least here in Adelaide, are long since over), or go and see a gay themed movie or play, maybe go to the Pride parade, or a Feast event or two, or just an afternoon on Rundle Street with lunch, boywatching and complaining about our lackluster love lives. Like the guys in Broken Hearts Club (or, minus the death and supernatural themes, the boys from Hellbent)... somebody who just "gets it"... you know.

Which is not the kind of relationship J and I have ever had, although he's the closest thing I've had to a gay best friend in... well, probably ever actually... our relationship started, exists and will most likely finish, on a whole other plane of existence from just about any other relationship I've ever had in my life, so it's kind of like comparing apples and shiny metallic fish.

I also know that if it wasn't for the efforts on J's part to keep himself on the radar screen, he would most probably already have slipped out of my life. When he's here in Adelaide, for whatever length of time, it's easy... we chat, we talk garbage or serious or whatever, we occasionally go out and do things (although, honestly, not so much)... but he's never going to be happy living here, and when he's away, even when he was only over in Melbourne, well, the wheels come pretty close to falling off. Partially because trying to talk to him online is just an exercise in frustration for any number of reasons (short attention span, appalling spelling, occasional tendency to self-involvement, etc), but also because, well... he's on the other side of the planet (or in another state, or whatever), having a whole young life of his own.

I don't do the distance thing well to be honest... J, BlueDragon (my relationship with him has ground to a halt mostly because I don't really have much of anything interesting to tell him anymore, plus I've never been good at replying to things in my email inbox), Bear (who I haven't actually spoken to in over four weeks, so that was a worthwhile mini drama bringing him back into my life wasn't it)... as well as maybe a dozen others who I can think of off the top of my head... if they're far, far away, then, in the end they drift off. Sometimes because I just don't care anymore, sometimes because whatever thing brought us together is over... basically it's a whole world of "Reason".

Granted they don't need to be far away for me to let them drift... I'm not one of those people who just keeps names on his MSN (whether I've met the person or not) just because I chatted to them once or twice, but haven't spoken to them for the last six months. I actually have a "To be deleted" folder... and if I haven't chatted to them in some time, then into that folder they go for another little while... and if there's still nothing, then deleted they get. Sometimes they get blocked too if I really can't be bothered, but mostly I just delete them... and never ever hear from them again.

I'm not saying any of this with a whole "woe is me, my life is so awful, I'm so lonely" vibe... for the most part I like being alone (as I think I mentioned once before alone is very different from lonely, and the two don't necessarily go hand in hand... you can be one without the other quite easily)... being an only child and all, alone is pretty much my default state.

Actually I had a thought about that today (the childhood thing) on my way back from lunch, since I'd stopped off at Planet Party (which just opened here recently) to pick up this cute seahorse bag for part of Ma's birthday present (which is a whole other story in itself)... but obviously Ma was on my mind on the walk back... as was the thought that she's only ever really one bestest girlfriend (that I'm aware of)... and that only happened in the last ten years or so I guess. And she was never really "social butterfly girl" when I was growing up. So maybe that's part of it too, I dunno.

Current Mood:

mystical universal convergence point

mystical universal convergence pointObviously the building where I work at the moment (and have worked for the last thousand years, give or take... okay, so technically it's only about the last seven years on and off, but still) is some sort of Mystical Universal Convergence Point... more specifically the footpath outside is said MUCP...

Or maybe I've just been working around this end of town for far too long and the odds that I'm going to run into everyone I've ever met at some point is fairly high.

I suppose if you count the people who actually work in the building that I keep running into downstairs while we're both actually outside of the building, then it's less of a Mystical Universal Convergence Point, since that happens just about every time I'm in here... I end up running into SOMEBODY I know from the building. But it's the people from outside the building that surprise me.

This morning it wasn't just one, but two people... Firstly it was the ever lovely Penguin (there's that "animal codename" thing again), who was actually the reason why I started getting all these web publishing gigs in the first place, and who got me into the Online Services area in the first place because he was going off on a month's leave. You gotta love the Pink Mafia... although, to be honest, before we discovered he was actually GayPenguin, rather than just RegularPenguin, one of my former receptionist girlybuds and I were convinced that he was trying to hit on her (and it was she and I together who gave him the Penguin nickname... something about the way he walked I think)... I can't remember now whether it was due to finding his profile on Gaydar that I realised he batted for my team... actually, I really, really can't remember any more... but there's been a lot of water under the proverbial bridge since then.

Now that I attempt to dredge up the memory, it might have been something to do with the temp agency Christmas party that me, Penguin and Reception Girly all went to (all being from the same agency)... and a chat we had on the way down there. Or maybe that combined with seeing his profile... I honestly don't remember.

Getting back to the present... Penguin made mention of the fact that I looked thinner and that it looked good, so he can stay... compliments are just the thing a boy needs to start his day off well... and Penguin so knows the feeling, since when I met him he was much heavier than he is now. Interestingly though I've never had a crush on him... even after he lost all the weight.

Anyway, while I was down there talking to him (and, the Universe is definitely messing with me, since he told me that he called my agency recently since he had about a week and a half's work for me... while I'm already working... for the first time in *mumble mumble* years, I have some semi-ongoing work, and THAT'S the time he chooses to need me... stoopid Universe)... where the hell was I... oh yeah... standing down there chatting and who should happen to walk past, smile and nod but a guy I used to work with when I worked for the Magistrates Court about a hundred billion years ago. And the weird thing is, out of all the people that I ever worked with at the Courts (and there were many of them), he's the only one I ever seem to see around the place with any regularity... or at least the only one that I see and recognise.

Speaking of people you don't recognise! One of the many and varied downsides to being a temp, especially when you keep coming back to different floors and different units in the same building, is that while people know you, you don't always know them... case in point on Friday... I was flitting around between floors getting some stuff for the website (photos from PR, copies of Photoshop, that kind of thing) and ran into a woman up on the Online Services floor (actually she let me in the door), and she seemed to know me, called me by name and everything... and then, when I came to leave, she was leaving at the same time, so we ended up taking the elevator down together... and she chatted away with me about where I was now and what I was up to and this, that and the other... and I swear, I had NO IDEA who this woman was... NONE... not even a vague clue to say "oh yes, I might not remember your name or anything about you, but I know that when I was working with XYZ, you were on that floor"... nup, nada, zip, zilch. She did look a teeny tiny little bit familiar though, and she did know me. I half wanted to just say to her "look, I don't want to be rude, but I really, truly don't remember you from a bar of soap... can you give me a frame of reference as to where I know you from?"... but of course I didn't.

Current Mood:

nuqneh!

I am Worf



You appear tough and cold, but deep inside
you are a hopeless romantic and highly motivated
by your emotions and sense of honor and ethics.

Take the Star Trek Quiz

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 225

Unconscious Mutterings... isn't that what I do most of the time?
  1. Dancer :: Private

  2. Intellectual :: Brainy

  3. Direct :: Marketing

  4. Tolerate :: People

  5. Post :: Office

  6. Instinctive:: Reflex

  7. Brink :: On the

  8. Regain :: Reclaim

  9. Repulsed :: Disgusted

  10. Distressed :: Vintage

Current Mood:

boom-chika-boom sauna adventures

sauna without the steamOkay, let's put on our Imagination Pants as I open my second bottle of Powerade and poke Blogger with a stick so it stops giving me this dumbass "Server Error", shall we...

Imagine that you are planning to buy some chocolate on a given date... and you're really looking forward to this chocolate, but you start thinking about chocolate all the time, and there seems to be chocolate everywhere on offer, and you find yourself talking to people about chocolate, and you end up having some carob... which isn't really chocolate, but it's similar, although not nearly as good... then, finally, the day before you're due to buy this chocolate you end up being offered a couple of pieces of somebody else's chocolate... so you leave the house at 1:30 in the morning to go and have some... but it doesn't ruin your appetite for the chocolate you've been thinking about...

Of course, it doesn't help that when you finally buy the chocolate that you've been waiting over a week for, it's not actually as good as you remember it, or that it varies every time you have some... but it's chocolate... and even questionable chocolate is still chocolate....

Everyone nice and confused now?

Yeah, me too... I think I took the whole chocolate analogy a touch too far...

As anyone who's been around for a while will probably realise (and the rest of you will just have to go off the post title and pic), I took another of my little trips to the sauna this afternoon... like I was planning earlier in the week.

Interestingly, in my discussions about "chocolate" with people this week online I've had two conversations with two different people about the sauna... and maybe I need to start listening to my own advice, since I told both of them that it can depend on the day, and just general pot luck, as to what kind of an experience you have.

You would have thought, today being grey (and later turning to rain, although I didn't know that until I actually came back out again) and a little chilly that the place would have been full... actually not so much... maybe the whole "Bear Men" thing is on the wane... I dunno... but I think before I go again next time, I need to sit down and reread this post (actually, maybe all of the sauna posts).

I mean, I have had worse sauna experiences, and this wasn't really even on that list... it just made me think a couple of times about what the hell I was doing there... or whether I should have left earlier... or what... I'm just a bit ambivalent about the whole thing right now.

On a completely abstract note, I also sat in the steam room at one point and wondered what would happen to the place if the water restrictions situation got worse... I mean the whole place RUNS on water... the pool, the spa, the steam room, the washing machines to launder the towels... and I would imagine that they can't do a hell of a lot as far as recycling the water, given the whole public health thing... like I said, abstract, but it did make me think.

There was also a guy there who made me think... actually there were a few of them, but this one in particular made me wonder for a while. He was BEAUTIFUL... okay, a little Light Industrial (think cute rough trade), but gorgeous... really slender but beautifully defined body, perfect butt, nice bit of tattoo work on the shoulder, close cropped hair, hung like an absolute DONKEY... so basically, you would imagine that guys would have been tripping over him left right and center... but he had, I think, Cerebral Palsy (at least that's what I'm guessing it was) and he had the whole "not quite right" thing going. Which was a shame, because he really was beautiful. I don't want to say I feel sorry for him, because for all I know he has a great life and everything is going swimmingly, but give the whole gay community's obsession with perfection in all forms, I can empathise that maybe he gets overlooked a lot. Although looking the way he does, maybe not.

Anyway, it was a thought...

I did manage to "bag" (which sounds bad when I say it like that) a guy I've mentioned before, with the big tribal tattoo on one shoulder... although it was a little like the experience with Cubby from the first visit that I blogged about... for a big, buff, beefy dude, he was, well... not big and beefy in all departments...

I also nearly gave myself third degree steam burns in the steam room... the steam vents happen to be right in the corner of the L shaped bench, and there was a brief moment when myself and two other guys were being a little like the seagulls from Nemo... "MINE!"... over this really hot guy, but unfortunately I was on the wrong side of the L and every time I went to move across I had to move past the steam... fuck that stuff is hot! In the end I took my wounded pride and steamed buttocks and left them all to it.

Other than that it was a little bit of a non-event... or the bits that were events weren't particularly good ones (not bad, not good, just m'eh). Maybe next time I just need to bite the bullet and go on a "real" day... Friday or Saturday night... when there will be more people around, hence, one would hope, more opportunity. Or maybe I need to pack it in again... take the few pleasant memories from this set of visits and call it a day... I dunno...

On the plus side, with the many cycles of steamroom/pool/steamroom/pool that I went through, my skin is nice and soft again. Although, when I was thinking that part way through the afternoon I also remembered that it was Marc that pointed that out to me... and since that didn't work out that well... let's just say that it wasn't something I kept remembering.

I'm taking my soft skin and my chocolate analogy and going away now...

Current Mood:

movies: pirates of the caribbean: at world's end

pirates of the caribbean: at world's end - at the end of the world, the adventure beginsObviously I'm just supposed to get all panicked and flustered for no good reason before each and every visit to Gold Class... well, any visit that is planned in advance... the first visit was fine...

And even if it was a whole entire week early Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End was still worth it.... and paying nearly triple what we normally pay at the movies was worth it...

So much more Jack (quite literally in fact)... so much wet and edible Will Turner (mmmm wet)... so much swashing and buckling Elizabeth Swan... *sigh*... it be good, says I!

If I was going to rank the three movies, I would say The Curse of the Black Pearl first, then this one, and Dead Man's Chest would come in last of all... maybe it's because the second movie was basically the second act of a three act "movie"... so the second act basically sets up all the stuff for the final chapter... I dunno... I do wish I hadn't rated the second instalment at 9 out of 10, since I really have nowhere to go with this one... this instalment wasn't a 10 out of 10, and I don't give half measures... lets call the second one a low 9...

Anyway... I will say that I got chills more than a couple of times throughout the movie... the call back to small, odd, singing children gave me the first chill of the movie, and that was within the first five minutes. And going from one extreme to the other, if you go and see this movie DO NOT get up and leave until the very, very, very end of the movie and the little "tag" scene... we knew something was coming, because each of the movies has had one, and even though both Ma and I desperately needed to go to the bathroom (a coffee, a bottle of water and a two and three quarter hour movie will do that), I am SO glad we stayed put until the very end... I even shed a little bit of a tear.

Oh, and the thing with the stone crabs and the Black Pearl... I had shivers all up and down my timbers!

I will say that I felt a tiny bit lost for maybe the first twenty-ish (maybe less, it's hard to judge when you're in the movie) minutes... they didn't pick up where they left off in the last movie, and it took a little bit to reorient (no pun intended, seeing as they start out in Singapore) myself to what was going on... but that was more to do with letting the audience in on the plot slowly than anything else.

Keira, Orlando and Johnny all get brilliant character introductions, although of the three, I have to say that Johnny's is possibly the best of the lot, and possibly the best character introduction in all of the three movies.

It was also nice to see the subtle refinement of the CGI on Davy Jones... even though I now know how it was done (as opposed to last time when I wasn't sure if it was a mix of real and CG elements), it still looked very realistic (or as realistic as a man with a face like a plate of calamari can look).

The one really flat spot was a scene towards the end of the movie where they tried to pay homage to a scene in the first movie with Johnny and the two soldiers, Mullroy and Murtogg, where they're guarding something and he comes to steal it from them... and, to be honest, it just felt shoehorned in there... it sank like a lead weight and I wish they hadn't bothered. Yes, it was nice to have the two characters in the final movie and to have that little payoff and callback, but you could at least have written them something decent!

My only other bugbear is a similar one to the one I had last time... although I don't seem to have mentioned it at the time... there were certain parts, when all the big action is going and the wind and the rain and the swashing and the buckling are all in full swing, some of the dialogue gets a little lost in the melee.

I will say that even with the 168 minute running time, the movie never really seems to lag... partly because it is one action scene after another after another, but sometimes with movies like that the brief spots in between can drag... but not with this movie, or at least I didn't think so. But then I was enjoying myself... any movie will drag if you're not having a good time.

It's just a shame that's the end of the franchise... not that I would necessarily want another four Pirates movies... but it's a shame we have to bid farewell to them all... at least they went out well.

yani's rating: 4 heathen goddesses out of 5

photo friday: lifesaver flag

lifesaver flagGrowing up I never actually remember seeing lifeguard flags, or being instructed to "swim between the flags"... possibly because Adelaide sits inside a giant "bay" and isn't at the mercy of direct currents... or maybe they just never had them at the beaches we went to.

But when I see them around the place now and again they still have an element of novelty value about them... plus they make for good photos.

This was taken around my birthday when the days were longer and warmer and sunnier... not that I mind the whole winter thing, actually I prefer it, but the sunny thing is nice.

Current Mood:

random zdenek hotness

This is a Random Hotness I've had hanging around in the draft pile for... oooooh, ages and ages now... but the RH I was going to post I wasn't completely sure about, so I went with one from the vault.

This is Zdenek (don't ask me how the hell you pronounce that) from photographer John Andresen... I actually posted one of his models, Mikkel, once before... way back in January last year, and I think this post could have been hanging around since roughly that time.

Just ignore me and enjoy the unpronounceable Calvin-clad hotness...


Current Mood: Mmmmmm hotness

light on content, big on whinge

lights on, lights offIt's been a bit light on content around here this week hasn't it... what basically amounts to a meme a day... well, not really just this week...

To be honest, I'm feeling a little "light on" myself just at the moment... or maybe it's more "lights off"... I dunno...

This may very well develop into a big fat whinge, which, given my mood, is likely... so you can either get out now while the getting is good, or come along for the ride. I know, I know... I'm working, it pays the rent and, in theory, the bills, and it means that I can take Ma to see Pirates 3 in Gold Class for her birthday, and buy her a present or two, and probably take her out to lunch or dinner somewhere nice... and it gets me out of the house, and takes me away from my increasingly annoying neighbours... and for all these things I am grateful, but holy crap.

I'm having one of those days where nothing is going quite right... and that never helps my mood. I got up five minutes earlier this morning (making it 5:40am... urgh), but it was around about the same time as usual by the time I managed to get out of the house for my walk (which is a trial in itself, with the mornings being cold and pitch black and so very, very, very early and all).... then I managed to miss the "early" bus by mere seconds (although I've actually been pushing my luck with that the last three days, since each time I've only managed to catch it my pure fluke, and due to dashing across the road to jump on just before the bus takes off again), which meant I had to wait for a later one (granted it was only a few minutes later, but it's the principal of the thing)... then, when I stopped off at the ATM to get some money out (HELLO PAYDAY! The one bright spot in my day thus far, other than when it was time to leave work finally), whereas normally there wouldn't have been anybody there, today, when I was running a little behind my self imposed schedule, there has to be three other people who all want to use the ATM (okay, so it was obviously payday for them too, but still)...

Lunch was an experience today too... not as bad as yesterday's effort, when I had to dash up to the Mall (which essentially took up my whole 30 minute lunchbreak) to drop something off for Ma (long story, mostly dull), and grabbed a piece of vegetarian pizza on the way back... vegetarian being basically tomato, and, well, I don't know what else, mostly tomato I guess, but very much meaning lacking in any kind of cheese... meaning that by the time I was finished trying to eat the damn thing and walk back to work at the same time the bottom of the bag ended up with more of the pizza topping in it than I think I'd eaten. But today I decided not to do the Subway thing (which is what I've been doing pretty much ever day for the last three weeks), but instead, being payday and all, to try the snazzy new "MYO" (aka "Make Your Own") place just down the road from where I'm working.

And, as with any new system that I'm exposed to, I pretty much froze up and had no idea what the hell I was doing in there, so my sandwich, while perfectly edible (pastrami, Swiss cheese, baby spinach and tomato with fruit chutney on rye), it was essentially me sticking with the most familiar looking things just because I had no idea what was going on and didn't want to risk exploring properly or asking dumb questions and possibly ending up looking like a complete and total wanker. Plus, while I'm sure the store will be beautiful in the warmer months, with the big windows and doorway and all the shade and whatever, but at the moment, winter, chilly, a huge wide open doorway, on the shady side of the street... less conducive to better (or, more accurately, warmer) dining.

Work isn't even being interesting or distracting or time consuming... and, for the record, I never, ever, ever, ever want to hear the name of any regional towns around the state or the names of their schools again... I swear they're coming out of my eyeballs and I'm over it now.

I'm not sure what frustrates me more about the whole work situation... the fact that I'm essentially sitting there twiddling my thumbs just at present (I ended up leaving an hour early yesterday, since I'd just flat out run out of things I could legitimately do, plus I was bored with attempting to look busy and finding things to do on my own, so I just called it a day... and then this morning, knowing that I was at the thumb twiddling stage yesterday, I wasn't given any kind of direction or an actual task to keep me occupied... oh, no, wait, I lie, I was... something that took me literally five minutes to do, and which could have been done by, like, an untrained chimp with a copy of Word... and, for a large chunk of the afternoon I actually worked on this post before emailing it home to myself just before quitting time... oh god, now I think I'm lost in this bracket... where the hell was I?) or the fact that if I was still working upstairs then the whole design and look of this site would have gone a different way and wouldn't look quite so craptastic...

Okay, I don't know that second one with any degree of certainty (since I never try and underestimate the rampant stupidity of people when it comes to their web/graphic design choices... and don't even get me started on the whole information architecture side of things, and the whopping great clue that I think they're in need of in that arena), but I would have given it the old college try... and there's already an ever growing list of things design-wise that I'm going to mention because, to me, they just look crappy and, to be honest, amateur.

Actually, I think one situation is exacerbating the other... if I was busy doing content and coding things left, right and center, then I wouldn't have so much time to pay attention to the design (it would still annoy me, but I wouldn't dwell)... and if I was still working upstairs then I could quite happily put the phone down, or walk away from a meeting, or close my browser window and then be able to throw up my hands and go PFFFFFFFTWHOGIVESACRAP....

Plus, the guy from upstairs who is handling the "tech" end of this project, while very technically proficient, isn't half the designer that he seems to think he is (and I would know, I used to work with him).

Add to that the fact that I KNOW that if the mob I'm working for actually had gotten all their proverbial little chickens in a row and had actually sorted out all the content and had everything ready to go then I could have come in here and polished the whole damn website off in around a week, two weeks tops (less good for me financially, but possibly much less stressful).

If I'm putting all my cards on the table (which, by this point in the post, is pretty much all I have left), I just miss working with the reprobates upstairs in the World of Web Admin... sure there were elements of thumb twiddling up there too, and I know you can't always go back to a place and expect to fit in with the current crew and have it all be rainbows and sunshine flavoured lollipops (did anyone else's brain just take that to a scary visual place? No? Just me? Okay... moving on then...) but when I was there and everything was working well, I was part of the team and I had a purpose (not to mention an actual
title) and felt valuable (sometimes), and however much I might have complained about various and sundry people (both in and out of the team) when I was up there, well, I still miss it.

I had a brief run in with somebody who was part of our wider "team" ( but who I didn't actually work directly with) yesterday... it's funny actually, of all of my former co-workers he's actually the one I think I miss the most, he's in the top two certainly... and when we saw each other we stopped really close together, and I think had one of us been a chick, or he'd also been a 'mo, then there could have been some huggage... cute, but a weird moment... I'm half tempted to email him and see if he wants to go to lunch sometime next week, catch up on some goss or whatever, but I dunno... see my earlier comment about not wanting to look like a wanker...

Speaking of "co-workers"... I also get the distinct impression that the people I'm working with currently just think I'm a freak... I mean, I am a freak, but I just get that feeling that they don't quite know how to take me, or that they're humouring me, or something. Actually it's not all of them (although currently there are only the three of them), but the pair I work most closely with... most specifically the woman I report to. Maybe it's just my usual sense of paranoia, I dunno, but I actually don't think it is for a change...

I'm just really sick of that whole building... I'd go and work for Google in Sydney (I was killing time reading about jobs with Google earlier), but you need a Bachelor of Science or a Bachelor of Arts just to work for them as an Admin Assistant... *rolls eyes and pokes out tongue at Google*

Okay... enough with the pity party... put the party hats and the noisemakers away and let's see if I can't list some good stuff... YAAAYs to counteract all these BOOOOOs...

YAAAYs :
  • Payday... always a yay
  • Seeing Pirates 3 in Gold Class on Saturday (all two and three quarter hours of it)
  • The high likelihood of "Boom-Chika-Boom" action on Sunday (I'm planning a trip to the sauna, it being the last Sunday of the month and all)
  • Finding a half full 75ml bottle of Joop! What About Adam (retail value $75, "discounted" value $44, so I've got somewhere between $37.50 and $22 worth) Eau de Toilette Spray on the footpath outside my building yesterday morning (Finders Keepers and all that!), and discovering that I quite like the fragrance (coriander, mint, freesia, amber, citrus and lavender) on me
  • Having Seasons 1-4 of The West Wing still to watch (I ended up starting to watch Season 5 before I bought the other ones, which was silly, but part of the reason I did end up buying all the other Seasons)
  • BIC Velocity mechanical pencils with a 0.9mm lead... I love me some mechanical pencil action!
  • "Urban Suitage" aka cute dudes in business outfits
Not surprisingly, that was a lot more difficult and took a lot longer than all the complaining (although I was trying to come up with as many good things as possible, whereas I just complained about the things that were uppermost in my mind)...

Current Mood:

options meme

I know I did a semi-meme yesterdy, so sue me... when I was going through all the meme's I could find a while back, I came across this one from Muzbot and added it to the list.

  1. Target or Kmart?
    Target... at least over here Kmart is way skankier...
  2. Beef burger or chicken burger?
    Chicken probably, I don't eat tons of red meat
  3. Faux or Fur?
    Faux
  4. Out of a can or out of a bottle?
    What exactly are we talking about? Oh, probably beer hehehe... out of a bottle, definitely.
  5. Hotel or tent?
    Hotel every time... I SO don't do camping!
  6. Coles or BiLo?
    Coles... BiLo is icky... although technically now Coles owns BiLo, so...
  7. Pasta or Pizza?
    Probably pasta, I'd have it more often anyway
  8. Thongs or sandals?
    Thongs probably...
  9. Backyard pool or beach?
    Backyard pool... not that I've ever had one, but the idea is nice.
  10. Souvenirs or photos?
    Photos, totally
  11. BBQ or foodcourt?
    I'm not really that much of a fan of the Great Aussie BBQ... I won't eat chops, and, well, a sausage is a sausage is a sausage... so we'll go foodcourt
  12. Chocolate or Vanilla?
    Ooooh, both good choices... if we're talking milkshakes then probably vanilla... for everything else, chocolate
  13. Hair product or no hair product?
    Ummm, hello, gay... always product!
  14. Cats or dogs?
    Cats
  15. Organised tour or do it yourself?
    DIY... I wold hate to be forced to do the same thing as a bunch of total strangers... urgh...
  16. Home cooked or home delivered?
    Probably home cooked...
  17. Coffee or tea?
    Coffee
  18. Strength of an ox or strength of a mule?
    Not "hung like a donkey"? Ummmm... ox I guess... dunno
  19. Love or lust?
    Lust, I'm more familiar with it...
  20. Thought or action?
    Hmmm... I guess thought...
Current Mood:

all about (work) me!

I'd intended to go through one of my old data CDs from one of my previous long term contracts last weekend looking for a copy of my timesheet spreadsheet that I knew I had somewhere... but I never actually got around to it, so I threw the CD in my bag last night and dug it out at work this afternoon... and flicked through a few of the other things on the disc, just remembering what seem like better times...

Anyway, one of the things I happened across was this "All about me!" (complete with exclamation point I might add) form that everyone across the "division" had to fill out (on 4 February 2002 according to the date on the form) after we'd been off on one of those lovely Team Building Days that you end up doing if you stay anywhere long enough, and we'd had some random woman come in to do the Belbin Team Roles with us.

Actually they were kinda fun... out little team was the only group that actually had one of each type within it... well, we were missing, I think, one or two key areas, but the Team Leader wasn't there, and we predicted, quite accurately if I remember correctly, that she filled in those one or two roles.

It's a little bit of fluff... but given that I'm working at the moment it is pretty accurate about how I like to work.

My preferred Belbin Team Roles are:
  • Plant: Creative, imaginative, unorthodox. Solves difficult problems.
  • Shaper: Challenging, dynamic, thrives on pressure. The drive and courage to overcome obstacles.
When working on a project I like to:
  • Come up with the ideas
  • Organise & deliver
I can help the team by:
  • Providing ideas/creativity
  • Putting ideas into practice
In the office I get annoyed when:
  • I'm stuck in a rut/doing the same thing all the time.
  • A plan just won't come together or the technology falls over
  • I get distracted from my main task by unimportant stuff (sometimes)
My preferred working styles:
I like to...
  • Come up with/expand on ideas
  • Take a project away and work it through
  • Get input from other team members to allow me to refine an idea
Three handy hints about working with me are:
  1. Give me sufficient leeway/room to work/rope to hang myself. Don't try to fence me into an idea or situation.
  2. Let me blow off steam when necessary (and remember to stand back)!
  3. Challenge me with new ideas/concepts and projects.
Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 224

Yes, it's time to empty the litter tray of my mind with Unconscious Mutterings...

  1. Coastguard :: Baywatch

  2. Buddies :: Fuck

  3. Nap :: Nanna

  4. Groan :: Moan

  5. Sitcom :: Laughtrack

  6. Reader :: Digest

  7. Heroes :: Save the Cheerleader, Save the World!

  8. Amazing :: Grace

  9. Woman :: Man

  10. Don't! :: Tell
Current Mood:

pirates curse strikes again

pirates are out to get me!Remember June last year when I attempted, in my infinite insanity, to buy Gold Class tickets online for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest... and how that all ended in tears because I left the ticket booking session alone for too long and it jammed those seats and I wasn't sure if I was going to end up with four tickets booked in my name or not...

Well the Pirate Curse is back this year for the final installment, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End... no, I didn't have a problem actually buying the tickets... that all went along swimmingly, I even got our "favourite" seats, D1 and D2... no, the drama came in afterwards when I called Ma and was telling her that they were booked for this coming weekend... as part of her birthday present and extended double weekend birthday celebration...

Only one small problem... her birthday is the week after next, not next week... so I've booked the tickets a week too early... *pauses and bangs head repeatedly on the wall beside him*...

Stoopid, stoopid, stoopid, stoopid, stoopid...

For some reason I'd gotten this weekend in my head as Weekend One... when, in actual fact, it's not really anything...

*bangs head some more*

And since the tickets for the correct weekend don't come out until next Friday (plus I don't know that they do changes or returns or swaps or whatever on Gold Class), we decided to leave them as they are...

*sigh*

I'm choosing to blame it on the "sick" headache I've had for most of the day... yeah, that will work...

Stoopid...

Current Mood:

infectious situation

biohazardAhhhhh... the curse of the closed ventilation system...

Having been "stuck" inside a building for the last two weeks with hundreds of other people all breathing and sneezing and leaving their germs all over the place, the dreaded curse of the temp has finally come home to roost... You spend enough time out of that kind of environment and your immune system kicks along nicely on it's own... then you go in for a prolonged period of time, and at some stage your immune system goes "Hang about... there's stuff here I'm not used to dealing with... there's all these other people's bugs and microbes and whatever... ummm... hang on"...

W
H
H
H
E
E
E
E
E

... and down it goes, into the toilet... figuratively speaking of course... and you get a little sick... fortunately, for me I don't get really sick very often, so it usually just ends up being mildly nagging and annoying and make me wish I was somewhere else...

Today, strangely, seeing as I've been out of that environment for the last couple of days, my chickens came home to roost, and I pretty much feel a little shitty. Not enough to stop me doing anything, I just end up feeling a little "glandular" and constricted in my throat... nothing major really, but if it doesn't get on it's merry way in the next day or so it's going to be annoying.

Once I get over this hiccup I'll be fine, my body will start making all the right antibodies and whatnot and I probably won't be sick again for the rest of my time there... and fortunately it's not going to be a long enough stay for me to get sick again once I leave because my body isn't in that environment anymore.

Or am I just weird and this doesn't happen to anyone but me?

Current Mood:

my hands

What Your Hands Say About You

You are logical, analytical, and rational. You have good verbal skills.

Flexible and broad minded, you can fit in to any situation. There's no telling where your life will take you.

Consistent and reliable, you like to count on structure and routine in your life.

Your emotions tend to be nervous and potent. Your energy - both positive and negative - deeply impacts your life.


Current Mood:

emergency haircut adventures

superman's haircutThere could be something to that "Secret" nonsense that people have been on about recently... or not... I dunno...

After Random Supermarket Adventures™, we decided, again, to go into the city... even though I'm currently working in town, I work all the way down the other end from all the shops and it's too much like hard work to try and haul ass down to the Mall and back again during my lunchbreak.

Plus, I wanted to get my hands on the first season of The West Wing (having come late to the show, and the Powers That Be reducing the six disc sets to $30, and me now having disposable income, etc), hit The Body Shop for some "Face Protector" and as a side project, continue my hopeless quest for an appropriate pink shirt in the right colour, size and price range for Pink Shirt Thursday (on a side note, DAMN YOU THOMAS!)

But going back in time a couple of days, I was kind of hit around Wednesday (due to an abuse of product, and hence, a Bad Hair Day) that I really needed a haircut... it's been a while since my last one, and my hair is kinda getting to the straggly stage. I never got around to making a call on Wednesday, mostly thanks to indecision... then Thursday I still wasn't sure, but still thought I needed to have one, but couldn't decide on whether I wanted to be bothered having one on Friday night after work, so in the end, Friday rolled around and I did nothing... figuring I would call either over the weekend, or early next week and organise something for next Friday. So a haircut was very much on my mind.

We stopped off at Starbucks for a beverage and a lil sumtin sumtin... then Ma dragged me down to Cheap As Chips on the hunt for some random kitchen item for work, then we ended up going down a different arcade than we would otherwise have ended up in... an arcade that ends up coming out (at least the way we were headed) near my hairdressers, so I figured, I'm here, they're here, why not stop in and book a haircut now.

As I walked in Tink was right there cutting somebody's hair, but closest to the counter, and she looked especially brown, so I asked her where she'd been, thinking she might have had a couple weeks off somewhere sunny and worked on her tan. But no, it was a fake tan... because she was headed off on two weeks leave... TOMORROW! I actually made a face and turned to walk out of the store... jokingly obviously... then came back and pouted because she wasn't going to be around to cut my hair for another two weeks... damn Tink!

Luckily she had some spaces later in the afternoon, so I booked in around 3pm, and Ma and I came back here to watch Heroes and kill some time (thank you easy to get 20c Saturday carparks, meaning we can run around town for a couple of hours, then leave and come back in again and the most it's going to cost is 40c!)... anyway, where was I... oh yeah... initially I was going to maybe get Ma to drop me in town and then take off, but she was okay with hanging around for the hour or so it took (since I had to wait around for a bit beforehand since Tink was running behind)...

I didn't do anything radical with my hair... actually, I didn't even pay attention to Tink as she cut my hair... I just said "Do it like we've been doing it, short back here, short here and here, and kinda fauxhawkyeske on the top"... and let her do her think... didn't even really pay attention, just sat there and had a big ol gossip about movies, Big Brother and whatever... then when she asked me how the length and texture of the cut was I actually had no idea what the hell she'd been doing... whoops... hehehe...

Lucky I trust her to do her thing without me...

Anyway, after the haircut Ma and I wandered around a bit more (the whole PST quest thing again)... before the shops started to close... but by then it was kind of dinnertime... so I took her to dinner... which was doubly nice, since I actually took HER to dinner (ie I paid), which hasn't happened in a while. Felt good actually.

So, yeah, that was my day... all 11ish hours of it (from when Ma got here this morning, to when she left after dinner)...

Current Mood:

photo friday: web bridge

melbourne's web bridge 2005melbourne's web bridge 2005Behold, Melbourne's Web Bridge...

This has to be one of the more spectacular pieces of urban engineering I've seen in a long while... While Ma and I were in Melbourne, we'd headed down to Docklands and were just wandering about, looking at stuff... turned the corner and there it was in all it's grey, webby glory.

I just wish the weather had been a little more co-operative, although the overcast sky did make for nice soft lighting... and kinda matched the colour of the bridge.

Current Mood:

random dogeatdog hotness

It always surprises me where Random Hotness shots appear from...

Today's shots are from dogeatdog5 on deviantART (aka Chris Knight), and I happened to find one of his images on a website somewhere, and recognised the file name as a deviantART one, and went to check out his work.

Chris is another very cool quasi professional photographer of the male form (along the lines of Jay Diers actually), who I've never heard of before, but who's work I instantly liked. Actually with photographers like Jay and Chris there's always that tiny touch of jealousy to my feelings, because they're actually managing to do what I wish I was doing, photographically speaking.

But enough of my ramblings... enjoy the pretties...

the thinking mandefenition

Current Mood: mmmmmm hotness

blogging meme

  1. Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?
    I'm happy with the layout of my blog more or less, although obviously I like to keep changing things around... and as for the contents... some days/weeks, yes, other times, no... just depends on what and how much and what quality of stuff I'm posting.


  2. Does your family know about your blog?
    Hell no!


  3. Do you tell your friends about your blog? Or do you consider it a private thing?
    I did mention it to a couple of people way back after I'd first started it... but fortunately they're both a little vague, so I don't think either of them ever followed it up. And some people I used to work with discovered it at random (Tip: never link to the blogs of people you used to work with if you don't want them to discover your blog), but I'm pretty sure they stopped reading it long, long ago... these days, yes I would say that I consider it private, and I'm not sure I'd tell anyone new about it.


  4. Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog? Or do you try to discover new blogs?
    I always take a look at the blog of a new commentator... I think that's only polite, plus I want to see who's commenting... but no, I don't always end up reading their blogs. I don't always go out of my way to discover new blogs either, although I will sometimes go through other people's blog rolls to see what interesting links they have. And every now and again I follow some of the "unknown" links that are sending people to my blog, just to see who's listing me.


  5. Does your blog positively affect your mind?
    Actually I think it does. Helps me sort through all the mental clutter and whatnot and get a handle on certain things sometimes. Although I'm sure on the flipside, the amount of time I spend thinking about what to blog, sometimes while I'm still enjoying the activity in question, is probably less positive.


  6. What does the number of visitors to your blog mean to you? Do you use a traffic counter?
    I do use a traffic counter, and I check it every day... I know I'm never going to be one of the top rank gay uberbloggers... my life isn't that interesting, I'm not an ubergay dude, and I don't post half or fully naked pictures of myself, so that pretty much counts me out of the running... but when my visitor numbers improve or start to increase over time (for no obvious reason) I'm pleased.


  7. Do you imagine what other bloggers look like?
    Those bloggers who don't provide the world with a photograph (and I'm thinking of one in particular), sure... but then sometimes when previous photoless bloggers post a photo it totally ruins the idea you had in your head about what they looked like. Bit like seeing radio personailities... never quites lives up to the reality.


  8. Do you think blogging has any real benefit?
    I don't think it's going to, you know, cause World Peace to break out, or solve the whole Global Warming thing... but I think both the connections between people around the world and the easy access to information and opinions and whatever are definitely plusses.


  9. Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
    You know, I've never actually thought about that... And honestly, I think the answer is "yes and no"... I know that if I suddenly won the Lottery then there are a list of bloggers both here and overseas that it might be fun (or scary or strange or confronting or whatever) to meet in the flesh... and I know other people do meet, fall in love, connect, hookup, form friendships etc that they wouldn't otherwise have done without the blogosphere. But if the blogosphere is actually just the blogs themselves and not the bloggers, then yes, it is a stand alone community...


  10. Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?
    Scare me? No... they just don't interest me in the slightest, so, yes, I would say that I avoid them.


  11. Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
    My blog... no... certain other blogs, sure! No, seriously... I think constructive and appropriate criticism is always useful... sniping, hateful comments and bitching are bad.


  12. Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog if you died?
    Strangely, yes... obviously it would stop, but it's more than final "he's dead now" message that I've considered from time to time.


  13. Which blogger had made the greatest impression on you?
    Honestly, I would have to say Sunshine, I don't think any other blog or blogger has made me as nuts and amused me as much, provided me with as much pirateable content over time and caused me to roll my eyes as much, fired me up on certain issues (whether I chose to make a comment to that effect or not) and made me a little jealous from time to time... and although there are a core of about three bloggers who I occasionally think about when I'm out in the world away from my blogs and theirs, he possibly tops that list. And that's also the same three bloggers who, if they chose to shut down their blogs for some reason, I would be quite sad about.


  14. Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?
    Probably The Artist Formerly Known as The Love Lemming, Larry. Although I share traits in common with several other folks who's blogs I read regularly.
Current Mood:

access granted

proximity cardI've been working in the same building on and off for... oooohhh... about fifty billion years, give or take... no, seriously, since, like 2001, and in that time the building security has gone from none to swipecard door locks every five paces (okay, not quite that bad... but when you need a keycard to go to the bathroom, because they're on the other side of the "secure zone", that kinda tells you something).

And being a temp, at least for short assignments, means you don't get a swipecard of your own (actually they're "proximity cards", since you don't need to swipe anything, just wave them around the general area of the "lock")... This was okay when I was working in the IT Department since they had a couple of former staff member's cards that hadn't been deactivated for one reason or another... so I got to use those... but that was back in the days when you just had to show that you had a swipecard/ID at the security desk. And the nice folks at the desk obviously weren't paying THAT much attention, because I used two different people's cards during the year I was there and they never pulled me up on it once (at least the second guy's card kinda looked like me... the first card I was using had belonged to a guy about 20 years older than me who had a full, and greying, beard).

Then after I left IT, they came in with these electronic "gates" in the foyer that open with your swipecard, highly inconvenient when you're just bumming around the place on a visitor's badge, especially since somebody from Security has to be paying attention to let you in (or out) through one of them every time you go anywhere.

But not today... for today I am a god (that's small-g god, obviously)... yes, that's right after being here for a week and a half I finally have my very own, unique and personal swipecard... all of my very own... wait, I said that already, right?

Alas, they did have to take my photo to put on the card... *makes face*...

And there must be some cosmic universal rule about ID photos... no matter what, you always end up looking slightly odd... in my case I even had the security guard take a second photo, since my mouth was open halfway through the word "Cheeeeeese" in the first photo (his fault, since he took it too early), and I looked slightly deranged, so he took a second one. He showed it to me to make sure it was okay, and as photos of me go, it wasn't bad... not great, but not bad... but when I got the card at lunch time, the photo had morphed somehow and I looked a little strange... slightly stretched out and looking much more bemused by everything than I remembered being (although, by that point I probably WAS bemused by the whole photo taking process).

But at least now I can come and go... and visit the bathroom for that matter... without either having to call somebody to let me in, or borrow somebody's card.

Woohoo....

I'm sure the excitement will wear off by tomorrow (jeeze, I hope so!)... but for now, as I said before...

Woohoo....

(Actually the excitement kind of wore off when I discovered that I don't have access to the stairwell, since I'm only working on the first floor it seems a little lazy to take the elevator down)

UPDATE: Turns out my card will access the stairwell, you just have to jiggle and/or slap the door around...

Current Mood:

that darn generation gap

donny and marieYou know you're getting old when you overhear somebody in the office make a reference to Donny Osmond, and then listen to somebody spend the next five minutes explaining who Donny and Marie Osmond are to a much younger colleague...

*rolls eyes*

Current Mood:

repeating

repeating repeating repeating repeating...ARRRGGGHHHHHHH!

Just need a quick work-related whinge...

Because they weren't actually ready for me last week, and they didn't know what the hell they wanted, and they have this random end date that everything is supposed to be finished by, not to mention the whole drama which has meant one of the team hasn't been at work since Thursday, I actually spent all of today UNDOING or otherwise re-engineering the work I did all last week. And bits of it I might have to rework yet again, depending on how things pan out.

In the end it's going to simpler to do once everything gets organised, but good god almighty, I'm about this far away from grabbing somebody and shaking them until they get a plan and/or a clue. I mean, seriously, I could do this job within maybe three weeks if they actually knew what they wanted and had it all laid out ready to go...

Remind me to go upstairs to see the folks I used to work with and kick a certain Monkeyboy in the... head... for putting my name forward for this.

Grrrrr...

Okay, better now...

Current Mood:

unconscious mutterings 223

It's time to sort through the mental trash again with Unconscious Mutterings...

  1. Film :: Buff

  2. Dragon :: Rider

  3. Hunger :: Pangs

  4. Plucked :: Chicken

  5. Dissolving :: Slowly

  6. Executive :: Decision

  7. Ridiculous :: Life

  8. Mist :: Jasmin

  9. Minority :: Report

  10. Map :: Maker

Current Mood:

avatar geekness

I love online avatar makers... from Dookyweb where I made all my "yani-avis" to the South Park Studio... from Yahoo's Avatar maker to websites like Gaia, I just love making little pixel people. Actually the stuff I end up making usually falls into two categories... little pixel people who look as much like me as I can make them and little pixel people who are something I find hot, or even something I wish I looked like.

I actually went on a mission to find a couple of groovy avatar makers this morning, because I wanted to add an avatar of Ma to my phone for when she calls (you can pick different pictures to signify who's calling)... and I fell across this Dress Up Games site which listed a ton of them.

And I ended up finding two different types of generators that made one avatar from each category ("like me" and "I wish")...

Well... after I'd made up some of Ma first on both of them... can't forget why I was there...

mini ego yaniThe first little dude on the left is from MiniEgo, and, obviously, he's the "like me" kind... well, except for the ears (but, c'mon, cute little elfy ears, what's not to love)... the scary thing is that I used the same hair when I made the avatar of Ma... they didn't have that many choices for short and spikey hair, and I liked this style the most. It was also interesting that they've actually engineered the generator so that you can adjust the postion of the arms, legs and head, which I haven't seen before in that kind of simple "toon" generator... unfortunately the clothing choices were pretty damn limited, but there are "soon" spaces all over the place, so hopefully they update the range eventually.

Oh, and playing with the "Random" button gives you some cool, if slightly freaky looking versions.

meez yaniThe second site I played around with was Meez, which, although I started out trying to make a "realistic" version of myself (and I made a very cool version of Ma first, although perhaps something in the order of at least 30 years younger than the real thing), ended up scrapping that and going with the uber-idealised "I wish" version... actually it's half "that's hot" and half "I wish"... if there was a machine where you could punch in an idealised form like this and then get in and it transformed you, well, then this would probably be what I would choose to look like... at least at the moment.

The cool thing about Meez is that it's a whole moving, animating, Java-ey goodness with dancing and jumping and whatnot. And I would probably have posted a dancing, jumping version here, but the Meez system got all snooty with me and told me I didn't have the right version or type of browser to export things... but if you're really interested, you can see him stand around (or possible float all Nirvarna like, or skateboard, or go all rock and roll with a microphone, whatever animation I've chosen to go with).

Okay, I've been a big, sad geek long enough... going away now...

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la luna

Stolen from Andrew (who was my opposite, being The Sun and all)... interestingly, the last time I did a quiz like this I was Judgement...

la luna - the moonYou are The Moon
Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods.

But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage.

This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

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