What's with today, today?

He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all And His shelter was a stable And his cradle was a stall. With the poor, and mean and lowly, Lived on earth our Saviour holy. - Once in Royal David's City, C.F. Alexander Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people ... to rescue us from the hand of his enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. - Zechariah's Song. Luke 1:68, 74-75

It has come to my attention that there is trouble afoot in the world. All is not as it should be. Yet what can be done? I refer of course to the correct method of abbreviating the word 'saint'. In the course of my university degree, concentrating as I did on the Medieval period, I wrote a number of essays about or including saints. After receiving many of these essays back with numerous corrections I came to the conclusion that the abbreviation of saint was 'St' with NO full stop, which distinguishes it from 'st.' which has a full stop. The reason for this, which I may have made up in my own head, it's hard to tell, is that 'street' is shortened, and the front two letters used to form an abbreviation, while 'saint' is contracted, with the middle removed, and the first and last letters removed. So the full stop in 'st.' stands in for the missing letters, which wouldn't make sense in the case of 'saint'. This seems like a fa...

I have some new webcomics up on my sidebar! Mostly to make them easier to navigate to, and an attempt to update the links a bit. They are 'A Softer World' and 'Pictures for Sad Children', both are slightly whimsical with a disturbed edge. I recommend this from 'A Softer World' as commentary on our economic condition.

On Friday night I went to see Cloud Control at the Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills. Now Cloud Control is a small local band that I've been following for a while, cos I know one of the members, and I like their music, and the Hopetoun is somewhere that I've always wanted to go, so it promised to be a good evening. And a good evening it was! The support act was lots of fun, they were called 'Philadelphia Grand Jury'. There was another support act but we missed it because we were eating dinner upstairs (it was mexican). Their music was pretty good but they were very entertaining. They had a song called "I don't wanna party party, but I'm gonna cos you're fantastic" (which was also the chorus). It was quite silly but enjoyable. At the end the keyboard player unplugged his keyboard and walked out the door. Then after much fiddling with sound and instruments and setting things up generally, and a mad scramble to the bar by me through a fairly solid crowd w...

It's been a busy few weeks, what with starting a new job and all. When leaving my old job I got a little bit nostalgic, since everybody was saying good-bye. I was thinking "this is the last time I'll mop the floor" etc. I started wondering whether or not regular customers would miss me, or even notice I was gone. All those people whose orders I remembered by heart, who I used to exchange a smile with when they came in, I remember them, but I wonder if they'll notice I'm not there... I started worrying about a regular elderly man who comes in and sometimes seems confused. He never knows how to order. I hope they look after him. But then it was all over, and I said good-bye to the world of fast food and hello to offices and Excel. The world of high-finance and rush hour commuting and so on. Currently I don't mind getting up in the morning so much. All the sunshine helps, as well as the person who went around tying inspirational quotes to trees with ribbon. I...

Tagged by Ronni, who has livejournal. 1. One movie that made you laugh: There are many. For some reason the only one I can think of right now is Pirates of Penzance , which hardly counts as a movie really but I remember watching it when I was younger with my mum and my sister and literally rolling on the floor in merriment. Good times. 2. One movie that made you cry: I always prided myself on not crying in movies, although I get teary pretty easily in real life, but Atonement defeated me. 3. One movie you loved when you were a child: The Disney Robin Hood , with the foxes. Absolutely loved that one. 4. One movie you’ve seen more than once: I'm going to give two, for balance, When Harry Met Sally and Star Wars . 5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it: Many romantic comedies, or dramas. I really enjoyed P.S. I Love You . 6. One movie you didn't like: I love criticizing movies I don't like, so there is always a positive. I'm going to say Super Troopers ...

A couple of days ago I bought the new album by Conor Oberst, the singer/songwriter from Bright Eyes. I am always impressed at how each of his albums has a sounds distinct from each of the others, and yet they all have a common thread, mostly due to Conor's voice and lyrics I think. I have four of his albums and this is true for all of them, including this latest one. The thing that first struck me about this latest one is how conventional it sounded, more tuneful I suppose. Getting further in I have revised my opinion, it is not conventional as such, it just has a style that seems very firmly rooted in the music of the '60s. This is where I feel a lack of musical knowledge, I'm sure that there are others who could tell me if this was correct and give me more precise information, but the drums and guitars just shout to me of some decade from the late 20th century. Conor Oberst's music has always struck me as somewhat 'old-fashioned' in this way, but while his pre...

So Viv has tagged me, and this is what I have to do: Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more. (No cheating!) Find Page 123. Find the first 5 sentences. Post the next 3 sentences. Tag 5 people. Not sure if it's the nearest book or not, but the book I've been reading is 'One Hundred Years of Solitude' by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (although a week of skiing has distracted me from reading much at all). Let's see... And Rebeca did take a casual look toward the wall and was paralyzed with stupor, barely able to react and wave good-bye to Arcadio. Arcadio answered her the same way. At that instant the smoking mouths of the rifles were aimed at him and letter by letter he heard the encyclicals that Melquiades had chanted and he heard the lost steps of Santa Sofia de la Piedad, a virgin, in the classroom, and in his nose he felt the same icy hardness that had drawn his attention in the nostrils of the corpse of Remedios. I like this book, but that would be a very confusin...

Life does feel busy at the moment, with social engagements and plenty of shifts at work, all of which distracts me from job hunting and cleaning the house. I have written the last in case any of you come over and judge me on how messy my house is. Although I suppose a busy social life is not an excuse, you will only judge me for being terribly frivolous and bad at time management. Speaking of which I did spend most of yesterday afternoon napping, and to be perfectly honest I spend a large proportion of my time asleep. So where does that leave us? Well now you have a short summary of my life I can now write about whatever I like. And today that is a list of some of my favourite bars in Sydney, for your edification. I was thinking of this topic as I sat in Zeta Bar on Friday night, sipping a delicious cocktail in funky surrounds, having actually managed to grab a seat. I was also able to carry on a conversation with Andrew at the same time as the music was at just the level where it was ...

Well, it's been a while since I wrote a new blog posts, sorry to y'all. I know this happens periodically, usually when I don't have internet at home. As is the case at the moment. Since it's been so long, I'm not sure what to write about. I could write about the wedding, but most of you were there, and those who weren't have probably already read about it. I think that that any description I could write would be inadequate, since I was in something of a daze at the time. So perhaps it would be better to write about the honeymoon, since none of you were there and I haven't even had the chance to say much about it. Just mentioning a few moments, since it was pretty long for one blog post... After the wedding we stayed at the Sheraton on the Park, and spent a day in Sydney buying a new hairbrush, taking the lift to the top floor of the Sheraton and admiring the view all the way to the harbour and visiting the Australian Museum (good old skeleton room). Not to m...

I feel terrible looking at this blog and seeing that there are no posts at all in March. Which means I guess that there are not many people reading at the moment? You have all probably given up on me. It makes me sad because I do check the blogs, and I like a nice regularly updated blog to keep me entertained and up to date. It's just that with moving house, organising a wedding, and not having home internet, it has been a little hard. Happily I now have some spare time. Well, it's not exactly spare, but printing things takes a long time and it's the computer that has to do all the work, so I'm free to update! Yay! And what's news? I'm getting married in two days! Which is pretty crazy. Andrew and I have been running around like mad all week, and I'm sure not everything we wanted to do will get done. Note for others, when getting married, doing everything yourself to save money may sound like a good idea, but may also drive you crazy. And therapy doesn't...

I had a very eventful weekend, I moved house. Well, not completely, there's stuff still to be packed and moved but I'm living in Stanmore now. Unfortunately this house does not have internet access as yet, and since my laptop has been broken for some time I'm not sure when internet access will be forthcoming, so no regular internet access for me. :( So this blog will likely be even more neglected... But it's kinda exciting anyway, and I also got to see Merry and watch Juno (which I recommend, by the way! Also liked the soundtrack). Hi everybody by the way! Also I have been shopping for wedding shoes and I find that my feet are too big and practically nothing fits them. Stupid feet.

Haven't written a blog post in a while... And have been meaning to write up my book list from 2007, so in lieu of thinking of something interesting to say here it is: New books read in 2007 Puccinni's Ghost- Morag Joss The Secret River- Kate Grenville. Good, but sad. Well drawn characters really make this book what it is. Mister Monday- Garth Nix Grim Tuesday- Garth Nix Drowned Wednesday- Garth Nix Sir Thursday- Garth Nix. Young adult fantasy, read on beach holiday, fun. Enduring Love- Ian McEwan. Really very much liked this one. Well written, messes with your head a bit. Daughter of Fortune- Isabel Allende. Pretty cool, sweeping historical adventure. The Memory Keeper's Daughter- Kim Edwards. Why are so many of the books I read so sad? Black Swan Green- David Mitchell A review of this made me start reading David Mitchell. Still like number9dream best. Great Northern?- Arthur Ransome Wieland- Charles Brockden Brown. For American Gothic course, one of few books I finished f...

I just got a phone call. Not all that puzzling you might say? But you would be wrong. Firstly, it was a phone call to my home phone number in the middle of the day. Secondly, I was already on the phone to Andrew at the time. Now, sad to say, I very rarely get phone calls from people other than Andrew, and everyone seems to call my mobile anyway, particularly in the middle of the day when I might reasonably be expected to be out and about. So I expected telemarketers or a wrong number. What I got was a lack of response when I said hello, and then an elderly voice saying "yes?". I had answered the phone, and at that unhelpful response gave my name, so that they could determine whether it was a wrong number. If I could remember word for word the conversation that followed I would write it down, but all I can remember is my growing conviction that this old lady was waiting for me to give my reason for calling her. She sounded quite confused. I asked her who she wanted to talk to...

So writing a post about fear of death and how I wasn't generally scared, and what happens to me but I get into an accident. Worst car crash I've ever been in, but no-one was hurt apart from the cars. What happened was, Andrew was driving me home to Maroubra, and then this car came through an intersection, we just saw the lights and Andrew braked then it hit us on the side and we spun round, not really knowing where we'd end up. We ended up halfway up on the kerb, facing almost the way we'd come, with the car door smashed in and the rear wheel out of place. We both got out the passenger door. Then it was just a two hour or so wait until the police arrived, they were tied up with a bigger crash in which someone was trapped. So we were lucky, and only scared, but I'm still not sure how much fear of death generally affects me.

I recently read 'White Noise' by Don DeLillo. Every time I would go to pick up the book, that line from 'Gold Mine Gutted' by Bright Eyes would pop into my head. Funnily enough, I always thought of it as "Don DeLillo whiskey", it just recently occured to me that it might be "DonDelillo, whiskey". I thought Don DeLillo liked to include whiskey in his books, or maybe was an alcoholic, and that his name was used as some sort of associative descriptor. Then it dawned on me that this was just a list. Commas make a difference people, but it's hard to hear them sometimes. If Don DeLillo and whiskey did not prove to have any great connections, then Don DeLillo and Bright Eyes certainly seem to. I was listening to the album 'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn', on which 'Gold Mine Gutted' is found while reading 'White Noise', because getting the song in my head was bugging me, and for a sense of symmetry. Doing this was like a revelation...

So, hte beginning of the new year, time to reflect on the old year... Haven't gotten around to posting up books of 2007 yet, but I was voting for the Triple J Hottest 100 today and it made me reflect on the music that I liked so I think I'll try my hand at some music reviewing. Here are some top picks and new discoveries, in no particular order- Bright Eyes- Cassadaga The CD that I have been waiting for ever since I first heard Bright Eyes, since it contains the song 'I Must Belong Somewhere'. This CD did not let me down, it had some awesome songs, and continued the great Bright Eyes tradition while at the same time sounding different to all the other albums. What can I say, Conor Oberst is a genius. That said this probably isn't my favourite Bright Eyes album, it's very good, but I'm not sure if I liked the swirly new age sounds as much as the countrified 'I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning'. Still a great buy. Cloud Control- Cloud Control (EP) I ...