Egg on my Pants

I sat on a carton of eggs today. Yes, eggs. fortunately, only two broke. I should've known the day wasn't going too well when i made the Thermos explode earlier...

Harry Potter – Back from the Barber

He’s back. And he’s got a new haircut

The 5th Potter film – The Order of the Phoenix – is said to be due for release by Warner Bros on 13th July 2007. Fans of the bespectacled teenage wand whipper will no doubt tattoo the date on the insides of their eyelids and in the meantime try to sate their Pot(ter) craving by frantically searching the www for sneak previews and trailers.

From the first official photos released from the shoot one can’t help but notice that HP has undergone a slight makeover in the hair department. Everything else seems to look more or less the same. Even Hermione’s boobs.

Some idiot decided to email me some photos from the movie and now that my dormant Potter-bug has been unleashed I feel the need to give way to a good old rant.

Not that I have any major issues with the HP books. I think JKR came up with a damn good plot and wrote 3 good books. And then she went a bit loopy and sent her editor on an extended vacation. Book 4 – Goblet of Fire was actually ok compared to what followed. Order of the Phoenix was a rambling mess – the actual content would have made a decent 200 page book. And of course there’s the killing spree. In Prisoner of Azkaban, poor little orphan boy suddenly discovers that he’s not alone in the world. Sirius Black turned up and we all breathed a sigh of relief that life was finally cutting Potty some slack. Then what does JKR do? She ruthlessly kills him off for no good reason. It’s like she was inspired by the movie version of The Shining. You know, when Halloran turns up at the Outreach after all the fuss and bother of getting there and is chopped down in his tracks before he is able to justify the screen time devoted to him. Killing Sirius was a bit like that. All that hope and then whoosh, hack, hack, splash, aaargh.

The best example of a good thing gone wrong however is Half Blood Prince. The darn thing was so badly written that it took me four days to finish it. I had to read it in conjunction with several other books just to keep my sanity in check. Most times, I just wanted to take a pencil to it and edit the fricking thing. It was horrible. Horrible. HORRIBLE. So what went wrong? It seems to me that when she wrote the first three books, she was writing in relative obscurity. But after everyone started getting dotty over Potty her publishers told her “hey, why don’t you make the books WAY longer than necessary and throw in a lot of stuff that’s irrelevant but magically cool? That way we can justify a price hike and they’ll take up more display space in stores! Oh, yes, we sacked your editor by the way. An author as famous as you doesn’t need to be corrected. And we save more money”

Sirius – gone. Dumbledore – gone. Snape – now there’s an enigma. After the events of the last book there are several theories we can propound re Snape. That (a) he was bad from the start and had Dumbledore well fooled (b) he was bad, then turned good, then was tempted by the dark side and turned bad again (c) he was always on the good side but was pretending to be on the bad side and killing Dumbledore was a trick and Dumbledore is going to turn up wounded but alive in the middle of WWII.

Rumour has it that more people are going to get kerplunked in the final book. Rumour (who seems to be a well informed brother) also seems to have it that it’s Potter himself. If that’s so, that’s the biggest rip off of the century. All that building up over the space of seven books and he just dies? Gimme a break. Even if he destroys Voldermort in the process, Potter getting killed would be the lamest thing yet to happen in the books.
Well, one can only wait and see.

ho hum

I haven’t written in yonks and don’t really see any point in trying to recap the last six months in this one post. So let’s not go there.

Only 5 more weeks (hopefully) to go till the sprog pops. Being a live incubator is interesting but I must admit, a bit tiring sometimes. Especially when you get periodically kicked in the soft bits. So am I nervous about bearing an offspring? Hell yeah. Which reminds me, it’s time coached myself to stop swearing. Bugger. Ahem, I mean, boulder.

Went to see Oliver! last Saturday. It wasn’t as good as I expected it to be but very well done nonetheless. I must say I was most impressed by the set and lighting. The sets conveyed such a sense of depth – especially in the opening scene. There were instances that made me wince but I’m happy to say they were few and far between. The most annoying thing about the play was not the play itself but the gaggle of international school kids who thought it would be a peachy idea to have a nice chat while waiting for the play to end. Was almost tempted to stand up and yell at them but didn’t want to be laughed off as a hormonal pregnant woman having a hissy fit. For more on the play itself, go here.

Am reading Tony Parsons' “one for my baby” at the moment. I loved his ‘Man and Boy” and this one is living up to my expectations.

Wallow Wallow Wallow

I’ve morphed into someone I hardly recognize sometimes. Mostly, this is a good thing. But in some ways I miss my old self. Not that there’s any going back. And I don’t think I’d want to given that I’m completely happy with my life the way it is. But sometimes I just wonder whether at some point I let go of stuff that made me feel good.

Like writing. There was a time when I used to write a LOT. Of course I lost everything when my hard drive went into a blue funk and refused to talk to me. So my tech advisor reformatted it and now my writing is in soft copy limbo.

That of course is not an excuse to stop writing. But I changed my work place, had less time on the computer and it all sort of died down. Now I have time to write but there are no stimuli. Sigh.

I suppose the best thing to do would be to stop bemoaning all that has happened in the past and get cracking again. Gotta start somewhere. I think I need my own computer. There. That sounds like a nice way to start. So come 2009, I’ll be rearing to go. Watch out world. Squeak.

HOUSE Arrest

Season 1 of Dr. House M.D. has come to an end and I’m miserable. Consoled myself by sneaking a peek at the plots from season two on the Fox site. Cynthia Nixon guest stars in one episode. That should be interesting. Of course the biggest “what if” is that Stacy will be around a LOT. Hmmm. I wish AXN would start airing series II soon. I feel deprived of much needed comic relief.

Votes and Warbles

I have decided to vote this year.

There. Now that I’ve put it down in writing, I can’t go back on it.

All these years I didn’t vote (suffragettes – feel free to turn over in respective graves) because I didn’t see the point. No matter which way I exercised my vote; the person with the most amount of gun toting goons would come into power. But this time there seems to be a glimmer of hope that things will be different. Also, it’s time things changed for the better and if I have a crystallized drop of water’s chance in the netherworld of contributing towards said change, goddammit I will try.  

In other news, the Haliens had another gig last week. I missed most of it because I was at a warbling (a.k.a. karaoke) competition trying not to lose my tentative grip on sanity. But the bit I managed to be there for was awesome. Ranil is the god of the guitar and I challenge anyone to dispute it. Marsh as usual sounded great and their parting shot of Enema was bliss. Yes, I miss being part of it. I miss the insane fun we used to have. Ces’t la vie I guess.

Going back to the Karaoke stuff, what is it with people and performing in front of an audience? There was an interval where the audience was invited to request songs and get up on stage to sing. And I was absolutely swamped with little bits of paper with unintelligible scrawling on them. I kid you not. There was a stampede. People were actually voluntarily willing to make complete asses of themselves. Out of all the people who sang, there was only one person who belonged in front of a mic and not surprisingly
she won the competition. The rest of it was a pitch bending off key cacophony.

Now I remember why I stopped doing karaoke gigs.

Toothless

The other day I was in someone's waiting room , er… waiting to go in for a meeting and this guy walks in. he was one of those prissy who seem to merit an exclamation mark after every sentence; a “look at me! I’ve got an important job!” type of bloke. He was on a call when he walked in, and he had his little bluetooth hands free thingammajig connected to his phone. But get this; he was holding it up to his mouth with one hand and holding his phone in the other hand and I just couldn’t see WHY he had to use both hands to use his phone when without the contraption he could have made do with one. The whole thing actually makes one wonder about the concept of “hands free” because if you have to hold it up to speak into it, you might as well stick to using your phone in the normal way. On the other hand, if people would just restrict its use for its original purpose, i.e. when you need your hand free to do other things, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But one thing I’ve noticed in this zany ole isle we call home, people like to show off their flashy techno bits. and you can't do that when you're alone in the car can you now? As puddy-tat says, it must’ve been a blue tooth no hands free device.

Withdrawal - phase I

Dunno whether it's withdrawal or not but feel extremely light headed. woke up this morning feeling brilliantly smoke-free and the day has gone steadily downhill from there. hmmm. could be some sort of a bug and nothing to do with not smoking.

I seem to have exhausted my seemingly inexhaustible (thanks to my mom-in-law)supply of reading material. Finished all four Peter Morwoods, and since my craving for fantasy wasn't sated, re-re-re-re-re-re-read my Prydain Chronicles. Unfortunately i only possess two out of the five books in the series BUT i will soon have them in my grasp! Ahahahahahah. Ordered the other three off Amazon. Got them delivered to my mate Arjuna whos doing a stint in Oz and will get them when he come back - in about three months. YES. Finally i'll have the whole set.

Puddy-tat prefers to read his books off the computer. Something i'll never understand. I keep trying to make him understand that OWNING a book, means so much more. To have the whole set of books in a series is so yummy. I now have the complete sets of "His Dark Materials" Phillip Pullman, "Chronicles of Narnia" C S Lewis and soooooon "Chronicles of Prydain" Lloyd Alexander. I think i'm alowed another brief Ahahahahahaha.

Nicotine Blues

Quitting cold turkey just made me jittery and nervous. So decided to hell with everyone else's sytems and i'd go for one i was comofrtable with. So far it seems to be working. Basically, all i've been doing is cutting down drastically and more importantly staying away from the conventional cigarette breaks. For instance, if i skip the one with the morning coffee, i don't get any craving for the rest of the day. Around lunchtime the imp on my left shoulder gives me a little nudge, so i have one cigarette - the first for the day - BEFORE lunch. Then after lunch i avoid the smokes. So breaking the habit.

I must admit, it feels pretty good to be smoke free.

Cold Turkey anyone?

Tips on quitting Smoking...

1. Quit cold turkey. In the long run it’s the easiest and most effective technique of smoking cessation.
2. Do not carry cigarettes.
3. Quit smoking one day at a time. Do not concern yourself with next year, next month, next week or even tomorrow. Concentrate on not smoking from the time you wake up until you go to sleep.
4. Work on developing the attitude that you are doing yourself a favor by not smoking. Do not dwell on the idea that you are depriving yourself of a cigarette. You are ridding yourself of full-fledged smoking because you care enough about yourself to want to.
5. Be proud that you are not smoking.
6. Be aware that many routine situations will trigger the urge for a cigarette. Situations which will trigger a response include: drinking coffee, alcohol, sitting in a bar, social events with smoking friends, card games, the end of meals. Try to maintain your normal routine while quitting. If any event seems too tough, leave it and go back to it later. Do not feel you must give up any activity forever. Everything you did as a smoker, you will learn to do at least as well, and maybe better, as an ex-smoker.
7. Make a list of all the reasons you want to quit smoking. Keep this list with you, preferably where you used to carry your cigarettes. When you find yourself reaching for a cigarette, take out your list and read it.
8. Drink plenty of fruit juice the first three days. It will help flush nicotine out of your system.
9. To help avoid weight gain, eat vegetables and fruit instead of candies and pastries. Celery and carrots can be used safely as short-term substitutes for cigarettes.
10. If you are concerned about weight gain, do some moderate form of regular exercise. If you have not been exercising regularly, consult your physician for a practical exercise program which is safe for you.
11. If you encounter a crisis, (e.g. a flat tire, flood, blizzard, family illness) while quitting, remember, smoking is no solution. Smoking will just complicate the original situation while creating another crisis, a relapse into the nicotine addiction.
12. Consider yourself a “smoke-a-holic.” One puff and you can become hooked again. No matter how long you have been off, don't think you can safely take a puff!
13. Don't debate with yourself how much you want a cigarette. Ask yourself how do you feel about going back to your old level of consumption. Smoking is an all or nothing proposition.
14. Save the money you usually spend on cigarettes and buy yourself something you really want after a week or a month. Save for a year and you can treat yourself to a vacation.
15. Practice deep breathing exercises when you have a craving.
16. Go places where you normally can't smoke, such as movies, libraries and no smoking sections of restaurants.
17. Tell people around you that you have quit smoking.
18. Remember that there are only two good reasons to take a puff once you quit. You decide you want to go back to your old level of consumption until smoking cripples and then kills you, or, you decide you really enjoy withdrawal and you want to make it last forever. As long as neither of these options appeal to you - NEVER TAKE ANOTHER PUFF

Ballots 'n' Bullets

Election Time;
Ministers and wine...

yup. that's the refrain they'll be singing in the streets in a couple of months. Our silly little country is gearing up for another silly little presidential election.

oh. joy.

Apparently a whole bunch of people had got together and drawn up a petition insisting we hold the elections (which they're going to do anyway so it was all a wastle of time and paper) and yesterday dropped in at the election commission to submit it. of course they needed approximately 22 vehicles and 5000 people to do it. so road blocks and nervous cops all over the street as a result.

sigh.

am i going to vote this year? nope. what's the point? i'm not in favour of any of the people nominated coming into power so might as well let someone misuse my vote. it all comes down a total incompetant bastard being elected president - no matter which way the votes swing.

i think we should've stuck to a monarchy.

oh, of course, the british invaded us and screwed everything up. how silly of me to forget.

Smoke Signals

Decided to quit smoking.

Ok. Ok. So I decided to quit several times this month. Never got around to it. Almost made it once. But gave in to the smirking god of temptation.

I know I’ll feel a whole lot better once I actually make it. I’ve gone through the different methods tried out by friends who have successfully quit. No luck. Last week I met someone who gave me his quitting method. Praying and drinking water.

Don’t really have anyone to pray to so water it is. Feel bloated and hear a sloshing sound whenever I move. Still, if it helps…

Cigarette count for the day – 02
Craving - medium low
Homicidal tendencies - mild

The Beginning

yup it's happening tomorrow. Feel slight twinges of regret of not being a part of it anymore. It was a blast while it lasted. Good luck to the Haliens tomorrow. May you rock hard.

Da Blues

Feeling very very low. Mind you, could be the weather. Or the fact that i stayed up till 3.00 am for no good reason and desperately need sleep. Was planning to do a complete situation analysis of my life but can't be arsed at the mo. Trying not to find solace in nicotine. Ah me.

HOLLOW

HollowPoint Halo

Checked out the site yet? It truely rocks. Once we have the story (Chapter 1 - Black Eye Lullaby) everything will hopefully look tighter. since there's nobody reading this (i guess) it seems kinda stupid to write this way, but hey, you never know who's listening.

later.

TWEAK TWEAK

finally managed to post my pic to my profile.

techno-babble defeats me sometimes.

feel like an idiot.

oh well, it's done now.

on to beautifying my blog!

RANT (Bugger Everyone)

What man has a mortal right to point a finger at someone else and say “you are wrong”? How do we measure wrong or right? By the norms set by society? Are we to be enslaved by tradition; are we to be mere followers, indecisive about taking action because it doesn’t follow the pattern set by convention?

Bollocks.

I understand that what’s right for me, could seem wrong to others. But if I was to pander to their ideas on how I should live MY life then who’s the fool in that equation? As long as my decision doesn’t harm anyone, doesn’t affect anyone else’s life, I have a right to live my life the way I want to. So what if I took impulsive action on something that “normal” people deliberate on for months or years? I believe that I know more about what would make me happy than anyone else. Yes, even my friends. Because friends, no matter how important a role they play in my life, have no say when it comes to a personal decision. Yes, they can voice their opinion. For god’s sake, I’m not trying to take that away from them. But they have no right to judge my friendship with them, based on a resolution I took to change my life.

Wish some people would get that.


Okay. Rant over.

And So It Begins...

Well, never thought i'd get down to starting my own blog. What can i say, it's been one of those months. Compared to some of the stuff i did, this is the equivalent of the Charlie Brown strip title. so anyway, just a trial run to see whether everything is working properly. will probably post something a bit more interesting later.