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Below are the most recent 25 friends' journal entries.
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| Friday, July 3rd, 2009 |
rebelgardens
[ chiashurb ]
|
1:47p |
I cannot escape the people who hate nature
Once a month our landlord brings in a yard guy who mows the yard back to golf-green length, aggressively whacks weeds, and on his last visit, nearly killed an ancient rose bush. It is still sagging sadly on its old inch-thick canes. Today, the man came and killed half my marigolds (the ones that weren't in full bloom) and one of my squashes. The marigolds were tastefully arranged around the compost bin, equally spaced, and the only things in the area that weren't grass or clover. The squash was behind a small fence. Of course, in his mowing he also lopped the flowers off of all the clovers, which the local bees had been visiting quite happily. I just don't know how to bring this up to the landlord for clarification. She said when I moved in that gardening was okay, but she is also not a native English speaker and even the simplest conversation with her is often difficult. Current Mood:  sadCurrent Music: Dana Lyons--Willie Says |
| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 | |
pfsc
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11:40p |
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| Friday, July 3rd, 2009 |
scribblette
|
4:45p |
Whee, I forgot all about being able to play board games online at Yucata. Thanks again, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) ravenblack. I can try them out with Sue in advance of buying any. ^_^ |
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xkcd_rss
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4:00a |
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| Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 |
dancinglights
|
11:40a |
and now for something completely different: work garden
 In the four years or so that I've kept cuttings from the same purple passion vine (Gynura aurantiaca) and given them away to my friends, or the years before that observing its parent and another of the species in an old co-worker's office, I have never seen one flower. I'd only seen pictures of such on the internet. Now, so have you. This particular cutting was taken by an obstreperous kitten and brought back to life in a cup of water followed by a plastic water bottle self-watering container. It currently lives in my office window with a mystery succulent, an inherited palm tree, and rather a lot of pothos. I credit the container as much as the 6'x10' indirectly lit window and pile of books on the radiator that keep everything from drying out. The internet says that the flowers are ugly and smell bad and ought to be discouraged or pinched off. I'm not sure what it says about the ambient state of my office or my allergies, but I haven't noticed the smell. I admit they're kind of ugly, but I'll keep them. |
offensive_mango
|
12:10p |
pink
I've probably been reading too much Home Living, because today I'm wearing something that Laura Ashley might have thrown up after getting accidentally drunk on watermelon juleps. I declined to wear a hat, but I am carrying a cream wrap in case the evening gets nippy, and I even have a little pink rose clipped to my gold vintage (read: nicked from my grandmother's closet) handbag. (The dress is sleeveless, though, so I'm almost certainly not dressed modestly enough, and if I get raped later I'll know it was my fault.) |
dead_mike
|
4:35a |
There are now 100 Cranes. Which is 10% of my target. I hope ill have enough time to get the task finished. I have no doubt about my patience, determination and discipline but speed could be an obstacle. I don't want to rush any of them because each crane is important by itself. They seem to be everywhere. I really need to get some string to tidy the little buggers up. I have taken some photos, but they just look like a mass of paper wit random beaks wings and tails. Ill put the photos up once I have 120 which will be 3 complete strings and will mean I can add an extra coloured Crane to the Mix. In other news I think I'm really going to miss Fiona. I havent really allowed myself to think about it yet. but after she left today I felt like I was gonna explode. I hope things work out well for her in glasgow though. |
| Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 |
offensive_mango
|
12:34p |
extra mango
In case you're determined to read my every internet-based thought, I have syndicated my Google Reader page at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif) mango_reader. Be warned that I read a LOT of antifeminist/hyperxtian blogs (I'm aware that it's an unsettling hobby, kind of like collecting Nazi memorabilia) and I do tend to comment a lot on them in preference to other things, so if you're not interested in that you won't be interested in about 80% of mango_reader. I imagine I'm going to use Reader more often than Delicious now. Hmmm. But I really liked Delicious. Boo hoo hoo! |
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xkcd_rss
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4:00a |
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dead_mike
|
5:09a |
I descovered this weekend that people actually read my Livejournal This is shocking news, I am shocked! I have 70 cranes, now, I've had a few days off, been feeling ill. Going to make some more tonight. :) Anyway Hugs to those beautiful curvacious ladies who actually read my twoddle |
scribblette
|
1:30p |
Also saw Transformers 2 last night. It was fun enough at first but the ending was even worse than the first one. The magic unexplained resurrections were a bit much, and they did more of the 'robot appears, someone randomly says his name and you have no idea who it is'. The fight scenes were messy as before - throw in inconsistent robot voices and you really don't know who is punching whom while saying what. :/ It's like they haven't learnt anything from anime at all. Edit: Ha, Megan Fox watched it and said it herself - "I'm in the movie and I read the script and I still don't know what's happening so I think if you haven't read the script and you see it and you understand it you are a genius."-- Aww, I just googled my random thought and it's already been done to death. No surprise. Some silly author in my birdie-droppings-newspaper was making an ironic statement about how knowledge corrupts, and it clicked that, quite obviously, if God is all-knowing, knowledge is power and absolute power corrupts absolutely, then all the craziness in the world makes sense as an evil mastermind having lots of fun. One of the lines that came up on Google I've heard before, but it's still amusing: If God were corrupt, he would abuse his power. But God loves us. He wouldn't mess with us just because he can. He wouldn't tell us to sacrifice our child and then when we try to do so say, "Stop! I was just messing with you man! I was just pulling a JC." Nor would he create global warming or ..... wait ..... ;)These airplane crashes are depressing and make me less keen on the idea of flying overseas next year. Especially reading that many people in crashes over water die because they inflate their life jackets while still inside the plane, leaving themselves trapped inside as the cabin floods and unable to dive out. Save inflating until after you're out! |
| Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 | |
pfsc
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11:20a |
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offensive_mango
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2:45p |
collective
Hello, collective wisdom of the internet. Someone has got in touch with me to ask about B&Bs in the UK, ahead of a visit this August. I don't know the answer to his question. Do you? The last time I was in the UK (on a non-business trip) was in 1988. We were there in the summer - busy tourist season - but we never made any reservations. We just drove into town and looked for a B&B sign, and we never had any trouble finding a place to stay. Do you think it would still be that easy to find a place or does everything book up?
The tourist literature says to make reservations ahead of time, and I'm sure that's a good idea, but I like flexibility.-------- Separately, can you explain how, on a hot night, after having two caffeinated beverages after 7 p.m., with very serious worries on my mind, I managed to sleep deeply and soundly and to wake on time with buoyant hope in my heart? |
scribblette
|
2:07p |
Somebody go poke Sue for me.
Last night, she had a go at the Xbox. She was having a blast playing a trial of Carcassone - a board game remake - and I remembered that a few years ago I visited ravenblack and was shown the same game. I was most excited by this, so volunteered the possibility of Sue and I playing the game together. Her response was that she was indeed having fun, but she didn't want to get it because... "You'll win." o_O I'd always been rebuked for daring the thought of sportsmanship before, but last night she openly acknowledged it. XD Maybe that's the first step to overcoming it. No matter the enjoyment of a game alone, if she'd lose against me she'd lose interest. If she won, she'd so much fun gloating any subsequent win by me bit twice as deep. If we race and I'd dare ram into her, she'd quit outright. Now even the vague possibility of losing something she's never seen me play gets in the way! XD I keep hoping her losing response will be the same as mine - "Yarrrr, I'll fight ye tooth 'n nail til ye yield or me wooden dentures are nary more than splinters, yarrrr!" It reminds me of the vast majority (save the valiant few!) of girls back in high school, when they'd interrupt an arm-wrestling match and demand a go. The moment there was a slightest tilt in their direction, regardless of how capable they were of butt-kicking, they'd give up with an instant flop. Any suggestions of games Su is more likely to kick my butt at are welcome. She used to enjoy Age of Empires, Rise of Nations, WoW & racing and some puzzle games. Also any suggestions of how I can lose convincingly. Whether it's narrow or catastrophic, she suspects any loss to be faked. I find this all especially bewildering given the competitive edge required to get the grades & career path she has. Maybe we should keep an eye out for a Dr Operation type game, or can have races to stitch up orange peels. XD |
| Monday, June 29th, 2009 |
rebelgardens
[ chiashurb ]
|
8:58p |
Plantgasm, Day 2
Today: Uprooted an enormous invasive weed in my parking lot before it could flower. This happens to be an invasive weed that I'm allergic to. It's in my compost now. Stopped by Home Despot on the way to work to pick up a few bits of hardware for brewing, and got trapped in the garden section. Bought a bag of organic potting mix (compost and chicken manure) (that had been on the list), two buttercup squashes, a pothos (for indoors), and eight marigolds. Of course none of these are even remotely ethically-produced plants, but they will be from now on, as will their seeds. The marigolds go around the compost bin to deter the fly population, and around the hops to do the same. The squashes get planted among the hops for ground cover and tasty fruit The pothos is an indoor plant. Last night I twined up my snow peas out on the second floor balcony so they can reach the third floor. They are very happy and flowering; I have two peas already and more on the way. And the real plantgasm idea: In my front garden is a bit of space in the flowerbed that I could coopt from my landlady next year with a hop rhizome or two. And then give them three stories of high-sun twine to climb. And the best part is, the only practical way to harvest the subsequently produced hops would be en rappel! Pictures coming soon! |
rebelgardens
[ dancinglights ]
|
4:30p |
bottle irrigator updates and other things
I have been very lax about posting garden progress because I feel bad posting without the pictures I've already taken, and still haven't found the time to bother processing them. Here goes nothing, unillustrated. Bottle irrigators have, for the most part, been an incredible success. A potted cherry tomato plant of the same variety I struggled with last year is four feet tall and full of flowers and slowly reddening tomatoes. My eggplant and some other tomatoes have been brought back from near-death. I have, however, run into a couple of issues with corkage: * Natural corks don't work at all. The hole created by a normal bottle opener is nowhere near wide enough once the wet cork expands. I do not currently own drill bits or spare corks enough to try anything wider. * Using no cork at all works fine to water particularly thirsty plants for a couple of days, but won't hold out for a four-day weekend. Another problem I'm running into is the blossoms on all of my sweet peppers and the less hardy of my tomatoes are falling off with very few fruit in sight. My first thought was a lack of pollinators -- there are observably fewer bees around than last year -- except that the jalapenos and Hungarian hot peppers and the cherry tomato on the somewhat shady deck are fine. What then? Apparently it might just be intermittently too hot. In June, Zone 7b. What of the rest of the summer? And my poor nightshades? Maybe fuss with the untested soil by adding some Epsom salts (magnesium) to go with the eggshells (calcium)? I have never been very good with peppers, but this is the worst I've seen. Help? |
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strawbalehouseb
|
7:45p |
My Consulting Services
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2. Initial plan review for basic layout and function.
3. Construction Drawing review with full blown analysis of all straw bale aspects as well as general and specific design considerations.
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6. Yearlong package consulting covering the entire scope of the job from start to finish.
7. Personal success coaching (www.CoachingBuilders.com)
Because no two consulting jobs are the same, I offer a number of different ways to pay for the consulting you choose.
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“I worked with Andrew during the construction of my home. I acted as my own contractor. The support I received from him was priceless. His technical knowledge of straw bale construction was why I decided to work with him, but I really feel like the personal support he offered me throughout the process was what helped me succeed in building my own house.”
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If you are planning to build your own house, I strongly recommend you hire me to help you along the way. There is a lot to know and it’s easier to hire me to fill in the blanks than it is for you to learn what I have amassed over 12 years in the trade. As an industry leader in Straw Bale Construction, I can help you make your dream a reality and help minimize the stress of the process at the same time.
Contact me today to learn how I can help you. |
dancinglights
|
3:11p |
squirrel with feathers, or, the strength to climb.
I spent less than two hours taking turns at an Aerial Silks class with thewronghands and another fine lady yesterday and wore myself out so much learning how to climb the silks and do some beginner's tricks that by the end, my shoulders and my arms had given out so I couldn't hold myself up long enough to do anything once I got there. With our usual lack of upper body strength, how is it that this activity so demanding of it is almost exclusively done by women? I am in awe of the performers, in awe of our instructor with her chiseled shoulders and dancer's back, and I take it as a challenge. According to the instructor, we did surprisingly well for a first class. While I had a wonderful time, it didn't feel like I did surprisingly well. Yet I'm slowly learning to believe people about things like that. wherein I natter about hobbies, gaining strength, and how surprisingly empowering it's been for me |
scribblette
|
2:22p |
God, Duke Nukem Forever & Zero Punctuation.
I'd always thought that IF a God exists capable of creating all that is, he'd be a kindly and forgiving soul worthy of ever so much worship, and so forth. Because that's what I figured God SHOULD be, for the universe to wind up being okay in my books. But I had a horrible thought today. Going on the common presumption that life is not fair, it suddenly hit me - why should the afterlife be any more so? What if heaven and hell really aren't fair - what if the restrictions for getting in are actually just as restrictive as some say? Maybe we lost the message somewhere, and only the first seven people to streak across the Nullarbor will make it into heaven. Sadly we've discovered that the Xbox doesn't work well with non-HD tvs. It might all look pretty, but everything is so darn TINY on the screen. It's a fair sized tv, so it doesn't seem appropriate to be having troubles, but you know you're stuffed when you can't read the "PRESS THIS BUTTON TO LIVE" icon. @_@ On to Zero Punctuation, which is awesome: We have Prototype, and Infamous was sitting in the back of my mind, but now I'm just amused. Note for future ref: He liked Left 4 Dead, Earthbound, No More Heroes, Call of Duty 4 & Psychonauts... In case you didn't know, he has also done an EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW of Duke Nukem Forever!!! YES IT'S COMING!! OMGS! |
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xkcd_rss
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4:00a |
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| Sunday, June 28th, 2009 |
rebelgardens
[ chiashurb ]
|
8:25p |
Garden Thoughts
I've been puttering in my garden this weekend, and have learned a few fun lessons about the local ecosystem. Our local pollinators are a goodly flock of bumblebees (native) and a small number of honey bees. I wonder where the honey bees come from :-) Both are quite fond of the rose bushes and the many clovers that live in the back yard A great number of flies have taken up residence in my compost bin. Two and a half weeks of nonstop gloom and rain did not help this. I'm hoping the increased dryness, along with more sun and more dry "brown matter" in the compost will help keep the flies down. The rose bush has contributed quite a bit of brown matter, in several years worth of old dead growth that has never been trimmed off. What will also help is the enormous spider that is now spinning a web inside the bin. I will have to try not to disturb it when adding to the compost pile. Once I am able to brew my dunkelweizen, I will have a lot of "brewers grains" to contribute more brown matter, though it's a shame I don't have any domesticated granivores to feed them too. Doing this requires solving the "pipe too small for hole" problem that I posted earlier this evening. The rabbit has also finally decided to leave my compost alone. Bricking up its two access holes seemed to be all it took. Bunny is now reportedly bothering the neighbor's garden instead. The hops are growing tall, and one of them has now exceeded the height of the fence. Soon it should be time for them to begin their horizontal growth phase and think about reproducing a little (they're babies yet; they'll think about it more next year). Maybe I should add a 10' tall pole and twine the hops from it so that they can grow more than 4' high. |
| Monday, June 29th, 2009 |
puzzlement
|
12:30a |
Sunday 28th June 2009
Just as I should be banned from buying two types of junk food at once
because I will eat both, I should be banned from hiring two movies at once,
because I will never watch both in a week. Andrew and I spent nearly a week
just getting through Tin Man, which is admittedly a miniseries, and
we're more than a week overdue on The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Tin Man was quite fun, except that about one quarter of the
dialogue made me want to drill a hole in my head because it kept dropping down
into the Blue's Clues level of needing to state the obvious. Also,
naming a daughter either 'Azkadellia' or 'DG' is a firing offense in my mind.
Neal McDonough kept sounding uncannily like Nathan Fillion, except Tin
Man wishes Joss Whedon had done the dialogue.
I cannot get over how lethargic I feel this winter. Last year Andrew and I
were merrily heading off for running five nights a week, and the cold was an
obstacle for about as long as it took to walk up a hill. This winter I am cold
and whiny. We managed a respectable run on Tuesday before Andrew got
another upper respiratory thing with a cough and tiredness. How we
went about swapping immune systems I am not sure, but I haven't had one quarter
of the colds he has had over the past couple of years, and when I do get them.
fie, 'tis nothing. How the worm turns, eh? I don't feel bad at all. This is my
revenge on the universe for the twenty five years of my life where I did
nothing but get bronchitis all the time and if Andrew must be the
instrument of fate who am I to argue?
We went bowling with Julia, Ben, Steph and Joel last weekend down in Mascot.
The Manhattan Super Bowl down there is done up in a momentarily hilarious and
continually appealing sort of zenith of kitsch 50s or 60s (I have trouble
telling the difference, go ahead and sue). Unfortunately last Saturday it was
hosting an enormous children's birthday party, which while very well behaved
drove us straight down to the lanes where there was a lack of disco lights and
some really bad music. I don't read back over these very often, but for the
sake of diary integrity I have done so: when I last went bowling there I bowled
a 138 game with my right hand and then 88 with my left, having had to swap
hands for the second game due to my shoulder. Obviously I've lost my touch
since then, since my highest game this time was 87, right hand. And I've
thought better of my declaration then that my bowling needs had been satisfied
for this decade, it's quite fun and I think it's safe to say that I can play it
without beating myself up about being good at it (although I guess see also
need to look up last year's scores) so Andrew and I might occasionally have a
bowling date at the alley in Hornsby. So far he is all power and needs aim.
We had dinner at the Newmarket Hotel next door, which would be quite a good
local if I was unfortunate enough to live in Mascot. (OK, Mascotians, you
are much closer to the city. But I'd be scared of being eaten alive by
big box retailers and having my soul sucked out by identikit mini corporate
parks. South Sydney gives me the willies.) It would have been nice to have
avoided finding out what the ads they play during the rugby are like though:
apparently if you escape a party full of unpleasant come ons, don't tell your
taxi driver about it, because all he wants to know is where to get the booze
that made the party awesome. Advertising told me so. Rugby, you're looking so
good right now. When Janus grows up, he's* going to do ballet and a spot of
knitting.
Speaking of knitting, it's been everywhere for a while now, and I can see
the appeal of having something to do with my hands during all those non-typing
moments. My actual need for knitted garments is low though; I guess there's
embroidery.
On Sunday Andrew and I picked up a bright red rental car to go down to
Mittagong for Brian's exhibition opening. I don't know why anyone gets a car in
any other colour, frankly. I suggest not ever taking the Campbelltown exit for
breakfast, incidentally: it turns out you have to drive right across Campbelltown
in order to get back on the freeway. We got to Brian's exhibition just as the
short lecture on it was finishing and squeezed into the room for it. Most of it
was sold by the time we left. Mum, Dad, Julia, Ben, Andrew and I had a nice
soupy lunch near an open fire at their cafe and Andrew and I shot about a
hundred macro shots of raindrops on leaves. Then we had a rug hand off and headed
home.
I've started slowly planning and executing a de-junking of the house. It's
tough mostly because I have trouble throwing things out: not in an overly
attached to my things kind of way, but in a feeling bad about landfill and
waste kind of way. eBay takes care of DVDs and such but isn't so good for
books. I don't like freecycling them either, because it means individually
negotiating a pick-up time for every book, which gets tiresome after the first
time. I'm going to have a go at taking books into uni and leaving them in the
tea room with a 'free books' sign. Then clothes to Vinnies or the Salvos of
course, and piles of old computer junk to Ewaste (damn you, government, for failing me
such that I have to pay for the privilege of not pouring heavy metals into
landfill).
* No, I didn't just let something slip, but thanks for keeping an eye
out.
Originally posted at http://puzzling.org/logs/diary/2009/June/28/20090628 |
| Sunday, June 28th, 2009 |
scribblette
|
9:55p |
Bought a rechargeable Xbox controller with a play & charge kit. All official Microsoft stuff. The little charging wire we plugged on to our existing controller, and could not pull it off for two hours. Eventually it came off - chipping off the plastic edges of the little plug it hooks into. The rechargeable controller it came with, it plugged into perfectly normally. There was no warning saying they couldn't be used together. The play and charge kits come with wires for use with regular controllers. Su is quite pissed. I don't know whether this then has to be turned to the retail store, saying, hey, exchange for the controller for one which the wire fits in, or to Microsoft. :/ |
| Saturday, June 27th, 2009 |
dead_mike
|
6:22a |
Cranes
I have now completed one string of cranes thats 40 cranes. Now i just need to do that another 25 times. until I have 1000 If anyone wants to contribute some coloured paper towards my endeavor feel free. I think If I have a 1000 white cranes It might be a little boring. I feel festooned by cranes already and theres only 40 of them but thats only 4 % of my target. |
dead_mike
|
3:43a |
crazy Cranes
In Japanese mythology its is said that 'He who folds a thousand cranes will have his wish for health granted by a crane' The crane is a mystical beast in Japan, and is a symbol of longevity. a girl named Sadako Sazaki who was a victim of the hiroshima bomb aimed to make 1000 cranes. but she died before she completed it, and her friends made the rest and buried her with it and since then the 1000 cranes has been the symbol of world piece. OK so I got the info from wiki, I don't pretend to be a guru on Eastern mythology but it all got me thinking about my motivations for doing this. I didn't know about the wish for health before embarkng. I just thought it was something I could to that was special for Bec for our wedding. The act of making the cranes is just folding paper. but as I make each new crane. I am constantly thinking about Bec. It means that she will constantly be on my mind every day until I complete my task, and the wedding occurs, It opens up alot of thoughts both nice and nasty about our relationship and Its like I'm loving her with every fold. I am only just embarking on this journey, but already I can feel it having an effect of my state of mind, perhaps there is more to this than patience and concentration, I think it is like a process of mental and emotional development. I think I might descover something about myself. and certainly my attitudes towards relationship with Bec The current Crane count is 30 |
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