Monday, January 07, 2008

Read-A-Picture: The Pine Log

This post was brought to you by the fact that I am completely unable to remember the name of a book skywalker had when he was little or find anyone who can based on my description, and vsquared and skywalker's mad photography skillz.

When I was little, and did lots of cool stuff. We especially liked riding our although I don't think he liked the part where I kicked him in his back from my little seat on the back of his . When I graduated to a of my own, sometimes we'd go on rides together when he'd always pretend he was lost, and sometimes I would ride while he walked.

We went to the a fair bit. I loved the and could push me so high that he'd run underneath me. Awesome. There was also a which I think we used to pretend was a or something like that. Also at the park: .

I challenge you to walk past a without experiencing the urge to walk along it. I was an expert walker, and never missed an opportunity to show off my skill. This particular day, I had ridden to the park, and had walked, and we'd bought along some (the park had a ) and probably a or something. We'd played and swung and fought and it was time to go - by way of a of course.

Some of the were close together, and some were a bit tricky, but as I said, I was an expert. So I'm walking along, and 's jumping me over the really huge gaps, but I was feeling stubborn and independent and insisted I could do the rest. And of course, I fell. I missed the , and stepped into and scraped all my up on the I'd just left.

Dude, it really hurt.

So picked up and and the and the and ran as fast as we he could. As far as I can remember, there was a scrape from my tailbone to my shoulderblades, but I'm thinking my memory may be exaggerating. I don't have a scar, but both have the lovely memories of our time at the .

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Icy Cold

I admit, I was not in favour. But then I realised I'm not the boss of the world (I know, it was a shock to me too) and everyone should be able to have fun, even if that consists of laying flat on your back on the ice.

'Fun' actually turned out to be ice-skating, and not the falling down kind either.





Fun, right?

Not pictured: me, skating backwards, holding hands with vsquared.

Also not pictured: my arms, caning, twelve hours later.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Starting the year right



That's what I'm talking about!

Happy New Year: What You Missed and Have To Look Forward To

Everyone in the world is getting all retrospective and comtemplative. Or hungover. Since I am not the latter, we'll give the former a try.

So. What I did in 2007.

I was home when it started, and I got an MP3 player. It broke. I got a new camera. It's fine. (Fingers crossed.)

I made a list of New Year's Goals that I promptly forgot about. How does two-and-a-half out of four take you?

I got back to the Hall. There was a lot of O-Week related madness.

My scooter came back with me. Then I had to drive in Adelaide. Luckily, I got good at it. Then I got worse.

I went back to uni. People annoyed me. A lot. And I totally called this one.

Good thing I had permission to write about all the AssHats I wanted to.

I obsessed over my clothes and my hair. And the weather. I also went shopping. A lot.

We had four Formal Dinners. And lots and lots of events. I even participated in some of them. Plus lots of SAAUCC (and other) sports, like tennis, swimming, debating, basketball, and soccer (which we won!), I became a true Hallie. We hated St Marks, stole some bathtubs and won Battle of the Bands!

Unfortunately, I didn't really like the Tutor Dictatorship here. I also bitched about the food.

I had some awesome friends. And some of them came to visit me! And posted Guest Posts. I even went to Melbourne with some of them.

I read a book called Harry Potter. You may have heard of it. I also watched a lot of TV and DVDs, in addition to being a TV star.

I came back to uni for my last semester. I learned stuff. People were still annoying.

I had my 22nd birthday, which was pretty awesome.

I had a breast lump 'scare'.

I clearly thought about BlogHer way too much.

I participated in The Great Mofo Delurk and I finished NaBloPoMo.

I met one of my best friends. She lost one of her best friends. I realised the power of a well-written post.

I got a job.

There was this little event called Hall Ball.

I had my last class ever. I handed in my last thing. And finally, I shut up about uni.

I got a new phone. It was psychic. (Incidentally, it had balls on the tree at Christmas, and fireworks last night. Freaking fireworks! How awesome is that?!)

We started cooking things.

And then we had Christmas Day. And Boxing Day. And New Year's Eve.

And now here we are. Jeez I am a bit repetitive really when you put it all like that.

(I do not imagine that anyone is going to be bored enough to click on all those links. It was a fun exercise for me, however.)

400+ posts, a year and a half, tons of photos, and some not particularly well-written sentences. The Ranch would like to wish you a happy 2008, with good friends (blog or otherwise), humourous and heartfelt posts, and lots of hot sunny weather!

Monday, December 31, 2007

New Years Eve

I've never been a big one for making New Year's Resolutions. Maybe because it seems like a bit of a cliche.

But if I was to expend as much energy as to think about the year that's been and the one that's about to start, I might even come up with a blog post, so here we go.

I will ...

- Start playing basketball again. Or do some exercise. Or get fit somehow.

This is right up there with the cliche thing, but this isn't about losing weight. At least not completely. I haven't put on much weight at all - which is to say that I don't weigh any more than I did when I got here - but I definitely look and feel less fit.

Do something, lazy-arse.

- Get a job.

"So, how's the study coming?"
"Yeah, good. I've finished my degree."
"So what now?"
"Um... just bumming around."

Given that I've had this conversation with a bajillion random family members over the past week, you may now be able to understand my motivation for this one. For the moment, I would be perfectly happy working part-time at ASS and picking up some relief work from some childcare centers that I haven't yet applied to. I still think I would like to work in publishing but I am not really in a hurry. That said, I still need some kind of work, and childcare seems like the easiest one to pick up that I would also enjoy.

Hand in a resume or two (lazy-arse).

- Go to San Francisco.

Despite there being a few minor obstacles that I've already discussed, I want to go to BlogHer08. I've already signed up for the conference - on the day registration opened, in fact. My motives are split pretty evenly between meeting people, drinking, travel, and learning stuff, which I think is perfectly fine. People will be going for all different reasons, but I'm pretty sure this is the right time for me.

Get on a plane.

- Something about blogging.

I would like to write better.
I would like to connect to other people's blog better. This means going to their actual blogs instead of reading their feeds, and leaving more comments.
I would like to make The Ranch prettier. This may or may not mean learning more about coding, or doing things in Photoshop, or some other type of design learny stuff.

Be better.

So there you have it. I think we've well and truly established that I'm a slacker, but apart from that, this is a good list, if somewhat cliched and/or predictable.

What are your New Year's Resolutions, and what do you think I need to add to this list?

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Christmas Day and Boxing Day (now with ten bajillion percent more photos)

I was shocked to discover that not everyone knows what Boxing Day is.

Duh. Boxing Day is eating leftovers, going to the beach, and playing with all your Christmas presents. While watching the Boxing Day Test.

Or, maybe it's pool ...



and cannons ...



and paddleboats ...



and a little bit of crazy ...



ok, maybe a lot of crazy.



Or it could just be family.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas Presented

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

Mine started a little later than usual, since I wasn't in a house with a thing known as a 'younger brother' which likes to be up at the butt-crack of dawn on Christmas Days. I still woke up before my alarm clock - I think that's a Christmas excitement thing that can't be escaped.

I got a nice early-morning phone call from vsquared and skywalker, and I opened my first present of the day...



...which I listened to for the rest of the morning, feeling all Christmassy and whatnot.

Lazed around for a few hours, watching The OC, which was really a lovely way to spend the day. Nothing like a little Chrismukkah crazy to get you in the mood.

The family dinner thing was lovely, as usual. Many games of pool and Buzz were played, and lots of food was eaten. (Don't you love having your own personal prawn-peeler person?) And presents were given. As I mentioned, mine were freaking awesome. I wanted to show you them ages ago but that would have spoiled the suprise.

For skywalker - a t-shirt (Periodic Table of Sloth):



For Alyn - a DVD and a mug:


For Gma - a mug:



And for vsquared - a t-shirt:



And, the pièce de résistance, another tee:



That is GOLD.

So what did you get?

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve

This working thing is a bitch.

I've done it for many many days now, all in a row, and I am very tired. Also my throat is absolutely caning. When I wake up in the morning, as my Christmas present, I would like it to be not.

If I could also be able to fly or teleport, that would be awesome. Driving is a bitch as well.

Today at work was kinda fun, since we got to wear Santa hats and play with tinsel all day. Which included making bracelets (me), headbands (the boys), and tails (the boys, but only one of them would wear one).

I went to Christmas Eve Mass and Christmas Carols at Gma's church tonight. It's held outside and everyone sits on folding chairs or rugs, and there's always angels and shepherds and things running around. Carols outside always gets me in the mood for Christmas.

Ooh, and so do the Christmas balls / chocolates that Alyn always makes.

Tonight I have to wrap up the things vsquared bought from my work the other day, and in the morning the cold things can be wrapped. Then I just have to remember to take the wine and all the presents to Christmas dinner, and we're all good.

One more thing: do you think Santa will be able to find me at the Hall? Maybe I should leave out some milk and cookies just in case.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Read My ... Christmas present to myself.*



I think it's awesome.

Plus, I just home from a shift that finished at MIDNIGHT. Midnight! Who shops at freaking midnight? Crazy people, that's who. Read my shirt, Crazy People.

Think of the money. Think of the money.

Anyway, the shift wasn't really too bad. Partly cos we were reasonably busy but not crazy-busy, and partly because the night ended in ice-cream cake. Cake just makes it all better.

*And you're just lucky that I'm as good at buying presents for other people as I am for myself. Can't wait til Christmas.

Still Thinking About: My Hair. San Francisco. Your Crazy Accent. Isn't everybody?

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

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