cyberspace junkyard

Friday Five in Fashion

Hee hee - can't believe it's a fashion edition. Dunno whether this is more torture for the girls or guys??!

1. What's your favorite piece of clothing that you currently own?
black mock-suede zippered skim-the-top-of-the-hips jacket

2. What piece of clothing do you most want to acquire?
This might be a surprise but a black or wine coloured knee length peasant-style dress ie with little flimsy cap sleeves and a ruched bodice with a straight body/skirt. Oh, and a couple of pantsuits for work.

3. What piece of clothing can you not bring yourself to get rid of? Why?
My Year 10 formal dress. It's the first item I've ever had a hand in designing and while I would probably never wear it again without drastic alteration, it's my first "grown-up" party dress.

4. What piece of clothing do you look your best in?
Long formal straight skirts. Slimline bootleg pants. Hip-length jackets.

5. What has been your biggest fashion accident?
This is so easy. And I have photographic proof. *shudder*
It's a skivvy top and ankle length leggings in matching thin black and white horizontal stripes. All the way up and down. *shudder*
That's not all though - I teamed it with red socks and red shoes with a black bow. Oh yes, and a red scrunchie in my hair that was half pulled to one side. Oh the pain.
It was too much torture to put a 10 year old through! And I wore it to a birthday party.

V the Bimbo

Mum produced my mobile this morning, to my great relief after living without it for 3 days.
I then promptly left it in my room before leaving for work.

Oops! My bad! *V does the girly bimbo headshake*

Tears on my pillow...

Well, I don't have a pillow at work, but I cried for maybe the 3rd time in my entire life this morning.
Strange... lucky I was at work early and all my team happened to be late!

Hmmm...

I've just noticed that most of my wishing, ebaying and listening items to the left of my blog are musical soundtracks.

Am I really that obsessed? Oh dear...

Oh, and one of my "wishes" will soon come true... I ordered the Scarlet Pimpernel - Encore soundtrack from Borders today. I'm dying to hear Rachel York sing "I'll Forget You".

The long awaited Britney post

You know, I have a feeling this is going to be a bit anti-climactic, really. Kinda like a much-anticipated sequel that turns out to be a dud. Or those scooter thingies that people merrily ride on while being overtaken by other people walking. Or the first Young Talent Time video.

Well, Britney, Britney, Britney... where do I start?
Do I call myself a die-hard fan? I have to say no... after all, I don't even have any of her CDs. Then again, I don't have many CDs full stop... I don't seem to have much time to listen to them so I prefer to have ones that I would actually listen to more than once (soundtracks, musicals etc). I know some people who have an astonishing range of CDs. Hundreds. Thousands of 'em. Amazing. Have you ever thought about how long it would take you to listen to all those CDs? Each one goes for an hour, times that by a thousand and there you have 42 straight days. Assuming you do need to sleep, then that pushes it out to 63 days. 63 days of non-stop CD listening. Two whole months of your life. It's quite picturesque out here on this tangent.

And you know, the bit about me not having any of her 3 CDs is kinda a moot point when you realise that I have 2 of her DVDs. but I can't help it! I love DVDs! (see below post... ) Oops. still on this tangent...

Out of all the "teenage pop-starlets" out there (and by this I mean the Mandy Moores, the Jessica Simpsons and the Christina Aguileras), I've always admired Britney the most. Have you seen her "Baby One More Time" video clip? Very cool stuff. She has a very firm jazz ballet foundation - evident in her turns, sharp head movements and general core body posture. She's also athletic - quite a few gymnastics moves there, like the back walkover. Her style reminds me of Janet Jackson (one of the best singing dancers around) except her overall style is a little softer - not so many quick, sharp moves. She also has shorter arms so her finishing positions aren't as aesthetically pleasing but add an element of funk to most of her movements. In any case, she seemed young, talented and she could sing adequately and dance up a storm. She got da moves!

I must admit that some of her live performances have been a little lacking in freedom - she seems very stiff in a few of the early ones and just didn't really relax into her songs, but she's grown into quite an exuberant performer!! Her voice is getting stronger and more flexible in her middle range. She's losing that back-of-her-throat squeakiness that you can hear in a song like "Lucky" and makes her sound like a little girl. The thing is, Britney has staying power. She's used some genuine talent and a lot of smarts to keep on top of the music scene where others have burst in and then faded. She doesn't pick songs that are too challenging vocally or lyrically but make you get up and groove along cos they have a strong rock 4-beat behind most of them. She's made wise choices in interspersing dance hits (Oops I did it again, Stronger) with ballads (Sometimes, I'm not a girl; not yet a woman). She hasn't provided too much fodder for the media other than her "drinking a bottle of Coke while signed on to promote Pepsi" moment and her changing (and sometimes bizarre) fashion choices. You can pick up a mic and sing her songs without choking on the syrupy lyrics and without getting halfway through a verse and wondering what the melody actually is.

At the end of the day though, the bop-queen in me affirms that I can happily bop to Britney.

So there you have it.

In Other News

I've been mobile phone-less for 3 days. Something to do with it being carted around in the back of dad's car for a while and then being misplaced amongst mum's papers at work.

Shocking. Enough said.

Somebody stop me!

Help! I need a booster shot! A vaccination! A patch! Wild horses! Anything to stop me from buying a DVD everytime I walk past HMV.

Admittedly, I did have a good reason. Today is Columbia Tristar DVD's 5th birthday, so together with give-away balloons and DVDs etc, all the DVDs released under that label were 2 for $50. AARGH! How could I resist!!!???

I picked up Legally Blonde (RRP$37.95) and Four Weddings & a Funeral (RRP$33.95) for a grand total of...

wait for it...

FORTY FIVE DOLLARS!
You do the math - I saved myself $25. woohooooooo!!!!!

Can you tell I'm excited?

oh, oh... but also bemoaning my complete absence of resistance when it comes to DVDs.

Culture Shock

I'm getting my weekly dose of culture this week by going to see my brother perform in an Australian premiere of some new choral works. Some inter-school thing (I remember them well).

How exciting! He's actually got a really strong voice for his age and is pretty good with harmonies. I'm going to sound all big sister-like and soppy, but I'm really proud of him!

Go Britney, go Britney, go, go, go Britney!

The Britney fan in me can't help but respond to a challenge to defend my musical tastes!
Have a read of Kazzart's blog and find out why she likes Britney so much.

I'll be posting up my sincere, passionate and logical arguments here over the next few days!

Belated Friday Five

1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I'm a Business Analyst finding my feet as a Project Manager in the Financial Services industry. Choices - what are choices anyway but responses to circumstances. I love my job (it's the creative but super obsessive side of me which helps me in projects!) and I love the working life - being able to meet people outside of church / uni / family and witness for God!

2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
Something musical for sure - a Broadway Musical Director perhaps. Or I'd arrange for CDs and Christian functions.
In terms of a "lifestyle" as opposed to an "occupation" though, I'd want to be building up God's church full time either here or overseas!

3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
My parents are both business-people and have always told me NEVER to start my own business. Absolutely a major influence!

4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
Not yet - I'm not married. I wouldn't mind being a housewife and mother - that is a full time occupation that never gets enough recognition! =)
There would be no contest though - what importance is a career anyway? If you have to choose that over your family, then I'd say your priorities are a little askew...

5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
Good golly - easiest job would have to be data entry (I've seen it done and the hardest thing about it is staying awake!) and the hardest is teaching. Or anything where you have responsibility and control over shaping the future of youngsters - I guess this includes parenting too!

Top of the world

It feels good from up here!

Patience (and a bit of under the table negotiation) pays off! I managed to get the software installed and integrated into the production environment myself and IT are happy to start testing it now! Harry is good to go.

I am ecstatic
Exhilarated.
Full of chocolate covered strawberries (our little reward for reaching our milestone 2 weeks early when we thought we'd be 3 months late)

PS - the person who invented freshly made chocolate covered strawberries is a genius

Polly-anna

I've just been given the new nickname of "Polly" at work.
Come it to think of it, that's really ironic because through high school, one of my nicknames was Pol, but for a complete different reason!

I'm about to digress so buckle in, and hope you make it out the other side of this little detour to find out why I'm being called Polly at the moment.

*** Here starteth the digression***

There once was a group of four girls who were obsessed with David Eddings. They spent their lunchtimes discussing the characters, their free time checking bookstores for the latest releases and their weekends creating secret picture alphabets using diagrammatic representations of characters or event in the book. For example, M was Mandorallen the Knight and was a little helmet and plume. One day, they decided to give each other names from the books, to match their different personalities and according to whether it was from the Belgariad & Mallorean or Elenium & Tamuli series. One was Liselle (Velvet) / Ehlana, another was Adara / Aphrael, another was Cyradis / Flute and the last was Polgara / Sephrenia (both powerful sorceresses, if you're interested!)

If you haven't already guessed, I was Polgara aka Pol

*** Here endeth the digression ***

Well, I've spent the last month of my project chasing my tail when it come to getting a new piece of software released. Every step forward means we also take two steps back and occasionally a step into a completely different direction all together. Everyone around me is tearing their hair out and I am getting frustrated too. In the committee meeting this morning, I was firm with my requirements and was actually starting to feel quite bad and questioning whether or not being frustrated and openly speaking out against the actions of others was a godly response. In any case, after the meeting, a number of colleagues came up to me and expressed surprise and congratulation that I could stay so calm and positive amidst all the drama and turmoil. It seems that even in difficult circumstances, God can use us to witness for Him and really help us to stand out as humans and as Christians. It actually opened up some discussion as to "how I could possibly cope so well with it" and so that's a praise point and a prayer point - my ongoing witness at work!

And hence, I have now been dubbed - "Polly" - the one who's always positive!

I'm so excited!

And I just can't hide it!

I'm planning a Les Miserables extravanganza DVD watching singalong in a few weeks time for some hardcore fans. It'll be the first official "wave" at my new house. Yay!

What's a wave, you ask? Well - it basically is a termed adopted by some friends at church to mean a social gathering / outing / dinner or whatever. A friend of mine was telling me how she was walking behind a group of girls in Hong Kong and she heard them talking about some dance party or rave. Except they couldn't say "rave" properly so it sounded like "wave". The name kinda stuck!

Addicted

Hi. My name is V and I'm a blogaholic.

Well, that's not entirely true, I think I'm actually a netaholic.

My brand spanking new computer decided to go on hiatus just days after I started customising it.Now, customering is usually a process that can take weeks, months, even years. In any case, something had gone screwy with some system files and the whole operating system pretty much just collapsed on me. One of the main problems was with the modem. I've gotten to know the people from the IBM hardware helpdesk rather well, but I shudder at the conversations we had.
by the fourth phone call, they were all blurring into one another...

Them: What's the problem?
Me: The replacement modem you sent me isn't working correctly
Them: What's the problem?
Me: It's not picking up a dial tone
Them: There's a support web page on the Internet at www.....
Me: But my modem doesn't work so I can't connect to it
them: Did you try...?
Me: Yes
Them: How about...?
Me Done that
Them: Oh, oh, what about... ?
Me: One step ahead of you and no, it still doesn't work
Them: Oh. let's try some configuration changes
Me: I've done this twice before with the other two helpful technicians an hour ago
Them: Let's try again.
(we fiddle around with some settings and end up exactly where we started)
Me: I told you it wouldn't work
Them: You're just going to have to do a complete product recovery.

Aarrggh!

Anyway, I'm back online at home and so you'll be happy to hear that you'll be getting blog entries day and night. Joy upon all joys.

The Sewing Circle

I feel like I've been initiated into a strange little group on my floor at work known only to others as the "sewing circle". They are all women in their late 30's - early 40's and they are so crafty! In the sewing sense, not the witchy sense.

Well, I've spent my entire lunchtime sewing tiny felt beaks onto little owl heads. I have become intimately aquainted with PVC glue and have to say that my life is greatly enriched by it. Can't wait til we start making the hand-crafted Christmas decorations!

Old friends

Just in the last few days, I've been able to catch up with three of my oldest and dearest friends. Funnily enough, I met them all during my days with ZeroG - a Christian Performing Arts non-profit organisation that produced musicals, ran drama and acapella singing groups and did some media work around 1997 - 1999. Some of the best times of my life, they were.

People come and go all the time... there are some periods in your life when a particular person comes through for you and you know that God has had a hand in bringing them into your life at a certain time for a certain purpose. There are times when you have the opportunity to be there for someone else, and for a short while, you're able to give them the support and love that they need.

There are some friends, though, who are just comfortable. You meet them and instantly feel like you've known them forever. You might not see them very often, but when you do, it's like not a day has gone by. It's strange that I happened to renew the old bonds with them all within days of each other, and I've been mulling over my friendships with them ever since.

I only see them individually once a month or so now. Gone are the days, when we'd hang out 3-4 times a week and chat til all hours of the morning. Two of the three are the only ones I've ever actually called my best friend, and the third is the same in spirit even if she never got that "title" per se. It's never made a difference that one of them is a guy or that at 23, I'm the youngest of the lot, and the oldest is six years older then me, with the other two falling in between. In fact, the three have ties to each other that have nothing to with the fact that they are my close friends, which is an even greater blessing!

They are my "drop everything" friends - I might not see them every day, but they're the ones who would literally drop everything to be by my side if I needed them. It might sound like a huge burden to bear for each other, but the most encouraging thing about it is there is absolutely no pressure or expectation there. We don't do these things because we have to but because we want to. We all have our own lives. In fact, our circles very rarely cross unless we make a conscious effort to meet up. Busy people might do a lot of things but they're rarely tied down to much. I guess in a way then, these friends are my anchors - they keep me sane when I'm in danger of drifting off, they keep me accountable when I'm struggling in my faith and they are my reality check when I'm at my peak.

I think that the thing which characterises my friendships with them is the ability to mutually understand each other. We're all different - but we still have that innate sense of being able to talk about anything without fear of judgement, persecution or prejudice. We're able to rebuke one another in love, and know that it's coming from a friend whose only interest is in encouraging us to be more and more godly. We're able to muck around, joke, hang out, sing and dance together. We comfort, advise and support each other. We sit around analysing everything to death and then help each other shrug it all off and refocus on Christ.

To hope without expecting
To cherish without possessing
To love because God first loved us

Harry Fever

Well, after a really rough morning, the afternoon is turning out quite well, thank you very much!

Project Harry has really taken off and as part of our staff forums, we're giving out little gifts and having baskets of Bertie Bott's Every-Flavoured Beans (aka jelly beans!) for everyone.

Some of the things we're working on (hmmm... productive day in the office - NOT!) are:

A small pair of glasses with the tag attached "Take another look at Online Super"

Miniature sorting hat with the slogan "Let us sort out your Online Super"

We've started cutting up bits of felt to make Hedwig (the owl) but can't come up with a slogan! So if you have any brilliant ideas... !!

I hate Mondays

This'll teach me to get more than 6 hours sleep a night.
For the first time in weeks, I got 9 hours sleep. Incredible. I was so exhausted from the previous days' early mornings, late nights and general choc-a-bloc activities that I crashed at about 9:30pm!

In any case, I got into work refreshed and ready for the week, only to be trampled with a mac-truck of issues, problems and head-splitting decisions that have to be made TODAY or my entire project will, splutter, stall and grind to an excruciating halt.

I could sense as soon as I turned my computer on that it was going to be a bad day. Sometimes you just know these things - you can feel it in your bones.

I hate Mondays.

Friday Five #4

Awww.... no Friday Five this week! Well, I've gotten used to doing them so here are five random questions. If you want to answer them too... post a comment! =)
By the way - these are all girly questions!

1. What skin products do you use? I used to be a Clinique "Cleanse, Tone and Moisturise" girl all the way (inherited from my mum) and then when she moved to Estee Lauder Foaming Facial Cleanser, I moved too (cos I just could never be bothered buying my own skin care stuff). I still maintain that Clinique's Clarifying Lotion 2 is the best toner around. Now I've migrated to Neutrogena Deep Clean Gel Cleanser and the SPF 15+ Moisture Complex (beautifully light and clean feeling). So there you go!

2. What is your favourite lipstick? This is a rather long story. In early uni it was Yardley "Storm Cloud". Then it was Clinique Long Lasting Shine in "Sugar Bean" (a browny red). Then it was Revlon Lip Creme in "Enticing". Currently it is Estee Lauder Pure Colour Long Lasting in "Hot Kiss" as well as Shiseido Sheer "Bordeux".

3. What's the silliest thing you've ever done to your hair? Crimping it for a party in Year 6 and then pulling a little bit to one side in a big red scrunchie. Stunning.

4. What's your best fashion buy? I would have to say that it is the jacket I'm wearing right now! It is short (just skims the top of the hips) and black with a zippered front and has that suede-like feel. It goes with absolutely everything and fits perfectly. The price tag was super cheap too! And my mum bought it for me! (I guess that means I didn't buy it then, but what the hey!)

5. Favourite animated character? This is a toss up between Dimitri from Anastasia and Li Shang from Mulan. Mmmmm....
They both have a self-depracating sense of humour and are attractive but with flawed physical characteristics (one has a broken nose etc). Dimitri is more charming with words and Li Shang is more dashing in action (needs some lessons in communication, but he'll learn).

Fridee! It's Fridee!

V does a little jig

You can practically picture me doing that in the middle of my crowded office, can't you?

Bargain Day again!

I bought another two tantalising movies yesterday. I was in the Imperial Arcade getting my eyebrows done and then walked across to the Grace Bros food court to buy some lunch. I decided to walk back to my office under cover instead of venturing outside into the cold. Of course, I had to walk through HMV.

Mistake #1. The DVDs and videos were calling out to me! "Buy me! Buy me!". I tried to look away but my gaze was pulled back time and time again. So many to choose from! So many under $20! How could I ever escape the impending pressure of deciding whether or not to purchase one?

Well, I ended up buying "Thank God he met Lizzie" on DVD for $14.95 (co-starring Cate Blanchett - love her work) and St Elmo's Fire on video for $9.95. Of course, with my wonderful 10% discount, it only cost $22 or so for the both.

Have you ever seen St Elmo's Fire? I guess it's like an 80s version of Friends, but in a movie. And not funny at all. Kinda depressing actually.
But the relationships between the seven 20-somethings are very real and you do kinda get swept along on their ocean of emotion, betrayal, love, loyalty, confusion and realisation that some friends are friends forever.

I rather enjoyed it, just because I felt like I was watching a historic movie - it had the likes of Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Judd Nelsom, Ally Sheedy etc very early on in their career. There weren't really any stereotypes either - in fact, the characters were all endearing in their own way. Oh, pardon me - all except Emilio Estevez in his scenes with the cameo-like appearance of Andie McDowell. He made me want to throw a pillow at the screen and fast forward til the cows came home.

Sweet and poignant and oh so wonderful for only $9!

The great tradition is broken

Let me state my disclaimer. If you have come looking for "gay dancing spiderman" you have come to the wrong place!

Well, for weeks now, I've been receiving daily hits from people looking for some combination or derivation of the above words. They search for "gay dancing spiderman" for which my site usually ranks between 10 and 20. If you read this archive you'll be able to see why.

Well, the pattern has been broken. Someone actually came to my site after searching for archdale debating. I'm so proud. My little bloggy's all growed up.

They say that...

The eyes are the window to your soul and the eyebrows frame the face so I guess my eyebrows are really just window frames for my soul.

Hmm... that doesn't really work but what I really wanted to say was that I got my eyebrows done (again) today! Thinner then ever - I thought I'd be shocked but I really love them. They look perfectly natural, but you'll really be able to tell when the bushiness starts to regrow!

I've also booked myself in for a half price facial in a few weeks.... nice relaxing way to spend a Wednesday lunchtime...

Ooops - there's my vanity complex coming out again! =)

Project Management, here I come!

Well, after being fully trained up on Project Management (a 3 day course, which means, of course that I now know everything there is to know about it. Give me a spade cos my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek), I've now completed my first ever project plan! It's this fiddly thing in Microsoft Project with a list of every single task the 5 person project team needs to do over the next 3 months, who's responsible for them, how long each task will take, how they all link together and how much everything is going to cost. Two full days of work and a very excited V heading off to the printer to pick it up. How disappointed was I when all that work, blood, sweat and tears culminated in only 3 pages worth of Work Breakdown Structure? Of course, my eyes lit up when I realised I could also print out task usages, network diagrams, Gantt charts, resource graphs and the like. I think I'm on my way!

I barely have any idea what I'm talking about so I hope you managed to stay with me!

Open top cars

The vanity complex and screen goddess romantic (forever to be known as the SGR) in me do battle once again.

Now, I've also struggled with this in the past. I was renowned in high school and university for never being in a car with the window open. I am an air-conditioning girl all the way. Before you ask whether it had anything to do with breathing outside smog or air pollutants or anything like that, I'll just tell you that it is because I didn't want to mess up my hair. (hence, revealing a little of what I call my vanity complex) sigh. I can't help it.

The weird thing was, I also have this thing about open-top cars. Convertibles, VW Golfs, winding country roads hugging cliff tops, over looking the ocean. Bliss! You can see my dilemma though. I had to stop myself from writing "and the wind blowing through my hair" cos I would HATE the wind blowing through my hair. But it's oh so screen goddess like. I feel exactly like Bridget Jones does when she gets into the car on a way to a mini-break with Daniel Cleaver in Bridget Jones' Diary.

Well, the battle was raging again this morning. A friend stayed over last night because we were doing a bible study together (2nd and 4th Tuesdays of the month, actually) and caught the ferry into the city for work. To quote Kazzart, it was a crisp morning (read cold, windy, chilly, nippy etc - I like her word though!) We had sprinted onto the ferry and boy, was that heart rate up and that blood pumping. We decided to stand out on the bow of the Rivercat to enjoy the water views and the morning sun. As expected, the SGR in me wanted to stand on the rooftops and shout for joy! Prance down the street sloshing water around and tap-dancing! Run up and hug a thousand people! Grin from ear to ear and never stop! You get the picture. Well, after about 10 minutes, the vanity complex started grumbling...

V... your hair's getting all messed up
V... it's getting cold and your cheeks will turn an unbecoming veiny red
V... you didn't put enough sun screen on and you'll get an uneven winter tan
V... your lips will be chapped and then you won't be able to wear that nice glossy Estee Lauder lipstick cos you'll have to wear something moisturising underneath and the glossy one doesn't glide on well on top of that
V... buttoning up that shirt to create more of a barrier against the wind really wrecks the line of the outfit.

Thankfully, we did go back inside for the last 10 minutes or so of the trip, so I guess both the vanity complex and the SGR were satisfied for yet another day.

Sydney weather provides a challenge for the fashion conscious

A gorgeous sunny weekend raised the hopes of the entire population of Sydney as we anticipated the early arrival of Spring. Short skirts found their way out of the wardrobes and overcoats were relegated to the farthest reaches of storage. As I came in to work on the ferry on Monday morning, I was greeted by a common sight - carefree workers jauntily strolling along, shrugging away their winter cares with bright eyes gleaming at the prospects of the sunny days ahead.

Well, that lasted all of 2 hours. About one hour after I had written an email to a large group of friends that extolled the sunniness of the afore-mentioned winter's day, it started to rain. Heavy grey clouds reached across the sky and a weight settled on the whole city. Winter had returned. He had banished his little sister, Spring, and extended its dominance once more over us.

Now where did I put that overcoat?

My Missing Posts

Archiving is not my favourite past-time. It has driven me up the wall for the past hour and now I'm cheating. Half my posts from July disappeared into the cyberspace graveyard as opposed to the cyberspace junkyard, though some might argue they are one and the same.

Anyway, here is a link to a new blog whose sole purpose is to store my missing July posts. (of which I was immensely proud, due to the frequency alone.)

Forbidden Broadway

Listening to Volume 6 at the moment. Oh, it is soooooooo good.
Well, if you like musicals in the first place that is. And have that slightly cynical, paradoxical sense of humour too...

Some of my fave lyrics...

To the tune of "This is the moment" from Jekyll and Hyde

Dr Jekyll: This is my key change
My Hyde: I'll do one too! aarooooo!
I'll do it higher! Any note you can sing, I can sing higher!
I can sing any note higher than you
No you can't, can't, can't!
Yes I can, can, can! Yes I...
Together: CAN!!!!

---

To the tune of "The Lonely Goatherd" from the Sound of Music, but about the Lion King (the original lyrics are pretty much just yodelling for this bit)

Oh please, Julie, can't I play a human
Oh please, not a blade of grass

---

And from volume 2...

To the tune of "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables

God, it's high
This song's too high
Pity me, change the key
Bring it down,
Bring it down
It's too high
It's too high
Much too high

---

To the tune of "the Rain in Spain" from My Fair Lady, but about Madonna playing Evita. The original lyrics start off with "the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain..."

Madonna: I strain in vain to train Madonna's brain
Professor Higgins: now once again, where do you strain?
In my brain, in my brain!
And what's your tiny brain?
Insane! Insane!
Together: We strain in vain to train Madonna's brain
And what are you doing on Broadway?
Training for the film Evita.
How kind of you to let me act
Now once again, where does it rain?
In my brain, in my brain
Who wed your soggy brain?
Sean Penn, Sean Penn
We strain in vain to train Madonna's brain!

Friday Five Take 3

Just scraping in - by my clock, I've only got 10 minutes to go!

1. Do you have a car? Yes, a gift from my parents. It's a '93 Ford futura

2. Do you drive very often? , Well, at least every weekend (to and from bible study, church, going out on Saturday night etc) Usually once or twice on a weeknight too but very very rarely would I drive it to work. That's the beauty of being able to catch a ferry!

3. What's your dream car? Well, I'm not really big on cars, but I've always wanted a SAAB convertible. Oh, and the latest few models of the VW Golf (open top) are pretty cute too. Although, my ultimate dream car is one that someone else is driving for me! heehee

4. Have you ever received a ticket? Once for running a red light.

5. Have you ever been in an accident? Pretty minor ones though, and not usually my fault! I've been sandwiched between two cars a couple of times.

Zippety Doodah!

I am officially blogging for the very first time from my new home computer! Alright! I feel a spate of exclamation marks coming on! woohoo!!

I have been without a computer at home for about 6 months. Oh the pain. Oh the desolation. Withdrawal symptoms galore! Just when I thought I'd managed to wean myself slowly off, and only spend 8 hours a day online (permanent connection at work) instead of 8 then another 4-5 at home, work offers my a really cheap deal on a new computer and so, of course, I buy it.

What can I say? I'm a yuppie through and through.

On a sadder note though - 3 days of marvellous eating at my project management conference has left me with a serious case of "my eyes can consume more food than my stomach" syndrome and a bit of an icky bug as well. Here's hoping I've recovered by tomorrow - teaching singing all day then a showing of the LOTR: FOTR DVD!!

Guys and Salad don't mix

Third day of my course, today! I think people were starting to come out of their shells a little bit, which makes for some very interesting and obscure conversation. I found myself milling around the pancake table (they served us pancakes for morning tea with cream, jam, syrup, coulis - YUM!) discussing all the different languages in we can insult someone by calling them "stupid"!

Anyway, lunch was particularly interesting. Firstly, have you noticed that guys don't eat salad voluntarily? (perhaps a slight exaggeration... though I emphasise the word "slight") I looked around at everyone's plates, and sure enough, all the girls had mountains of greens, some filling up half the plate (mine included!) while all the guys had piles of rice, meat, potatoes, fish and bread. Guys always tell me that they're not rabbits and would therefore not eat lettuce. What does that make us girls, then?

The other thing I noticed was that there was an entire girls' table and an entire guys' table. What are we, in Kindergarten? We had adults ranging from early 20s (me!) to late 50s and 60s, and we still sit on separate tables?! =)

In any case, myself and a fellow female were the last to pile up our plates at the buffet and therefore the last to sit down. Turns out there was only one place left at the girls' table and the last spot - good gracious! - was at the guys' table. Shock horror! What was one to do?

Well, I bit the bullet and sat at the guys' table, amidst cheers and laughter.

I was the only one with salad at the table though.

Brain Strain

I've been doing too much thinking over the past 24 hours!

First, there was all 10 minutes of the National IQ Test on Channel Nine last night that I managed to sit through before shaking my head in disbelief and turning it off so I could actually get through dinner.

Then, there was helping my brother with part of his English Folio for school which involved reading out each paragraph of Act III scene ii from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" about 5 times until the little light bulb switched on and he was able to (a) understand it and (b) paraphrase it.

Then, there was a whole day of project management methodology which has my brain so tired that it feels like it's run a marathon.

Some nice, quiet, brainless activity tonight, I think. (eep! there's that word again!)

Must have it... my preciousssss

I have walked past the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring DVD soooo many times today. How much temptation can one bear?

Prices ranging from $29.95 (Borders, Angus & Robertson) to $34.95 (HMV, but less with the 10% discount I have) to $39.95 as the RRP (regular retail price!)

I had to keep reminding myself that I had pre-ordered the 4-disc set, due out in November from Amazon, together with 4 other DVDs to reduce the shipping charges (practically getting shipping for free! YAY!).

It's only 3 months to wait?
I can do it! only 90 days of sleepless nights, waking up in a cold sweat with visions of fiery eyes and hairy feet.

Good. Managed to totally turn myself off the DVD. This'll be a piece of cake.

Paperback Heroes

I was thinking the other day that girls' perceptions of the "perfect guy" can be pretty warped. We see a soppy movie and think "sigh, why aren't the guys I know like that?". (eg - watching A Walk to Remember and declaring that I'd like a guy who still uses the word "ergo"!)
Everything we read and watch adds a little something to our mental image til we have it so firmly fixed in our minds that it starts clouding reality and we start measuring people up against a fantasy that we would never actually want to come true. It's rather sad, really!

Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly, but let me tell you - I have a list of characters a mile long that have contributed to my little bubble of an ideal man. I've swooned over Dimitri's hair (Anastasia). I've raised an appreciative eyebrow at Li Shang's back (Mulan - and yes - I realise they are both animated!). I've cried in desperation at the death of Rohan and the loss of his quiet strength (Stronghold). I've wept in frustration and shock at the death of Andry and his unfulfilled potential (Skybowl). I've suffered palpitations at the unspoken but tender love of Joss for Cailet (Mageborn Traitor). I've admired the simplicity of life and clear priorities of Durnik (Enchanter's End Game). I've grinned at the wit of the Wesleys (Princess Bride), the verbosity of the Harrys (When Harry met Sally), the comfort of the Rogers (Wives and Daughters) and the pride of the Darcys (Pride and Prejudice).

At the end of the day though - I can throw the list away. People are unique. You can't add them up like balance sheet. I mean, that's really rather selfish, isn't it? While you're busy trying to find a guy that's perfect for you, you don't often think about whether or not you are the perfect one for him, huh?

And besides - why settle for characteristics of this world anyway, when you can have someone who's been shaped by the characteristics of God?

Show me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22).
Give me love that is patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not holding grudges, not delighting in evil, rejoicing in the truth, protecting, trusting, hoping, persevering and most of all unconditional. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
Most of all though - may God grow me into that same person too.

A One-Day Working Week

Well - with a bank holiday yesterday and a three day project management course starting tomorrow - today is the only day I'm actually working this week!

Ain't life grand.

S.O.S.

Golly, I'm really getting a lot of mileage out of that little acronym. I've succeeded in nick-naming two projects of mine at work - both of which have stuck - Project Harry (Payroll Wizard) and Project SOS (Super Online Strategy).

Anyway, tossing around the term SOS at work made me think about last year, when I was SOS-ing about once a month or so.

Well, SOS wasn't actually the full acronym - it was SOSNSBSB.
What does that stand for, you say?

Something Old
Something New
Something Borrowed
Something Blue

It was actually a prayer letter that I wrote on a monthly basis to about 12 close Christian friends of mine in 2001. It would take me a whole day to write, cos I'd change the letter to make it personal for the different people. Here's an excerpt from the email I initially sent out asking people if they'd like to be part of an SOS.

Basically, so I can pray for you each week, there are 4 things you can share with me...

Something OLD - an issue or event or point which you were previously thinking/praying/concerned about - this is like an update on things we have talked about before, how are things going, what has God taught you through it, what has changed since the last time we talked.

Something NEW - an exciting thing that is happening in your life that you can praise God for - could be a decision you have made, a change with work/home/study, just something that happened to you on the train to work - anything really!

Something BORROWED - a verse/passage from the bible that has encouraged or struck you. Something that you have learnt from God that you would like to share with me as well!

Something BLUE - an issue/decision/anything you are struggling with, or concerned over.

Make sense?
When you get the letter from me - just reply to it with your own points! That way we can pray for each other and continue to build up the body of Christ.

I read over some past SOSes (which I stopped putting in writing this year due to lack of time and just bring up if I happen to meet up with someone I haven't seen in a while). It got me thinking though, about how vital it is to pray for each other, or really just to pray in general. I'm a big advocate of analysing relationships. Well, analysing anything, really. But I've always maintained that a relationship can't work properly without open, honest and loving communication - both sharing and being open enough to listen. As a Christian - doesn't that mean that I, in fact, have a relationship with God? And that that relationship is the most important of my life? And that praying is just communicating with God? I'm sure that you as well as I could come up with countless excuses as to why we don't pray, but I have to wonder sometimes how my priorities can go so askew.

A fantastic analogy I read recently that seems to fit me so well is the "juggler".
I'm the kind of person who always has a million and one things going at once. Think of them all as juggling balls, if you will. It's hard to keep them all in balance. If you're not careful, balls will start flying all over the place and it's not long before you lose control. Try focussing too much on any one ball, and you'll drop the others. Try juggling twenty balls when you haven't even got the hang of 2 is pretty pointless. But (apparently) the secret to juggling is not to constantly watch every ball and try and keep control over everything which flies through the air and obviously answers to so much more than your juggling skills (gravity, for example!). It's to focus instead on the highest point - where every ball has to pass through before returning back to your hand. If you keep your eyes on that point, then all the balls will fall into place!

I don't know how true this actually is (I'm sure that you do need some skills at juggling!) but it's a good reminder for me anyway to keep my focus on things above!

I have *so* totally digressed from what I meant to say in this post (after having been interrupted several times) about prayer so will tune back in on Monday.

To all those who work in the financial industry - happy bank holiday! See you on Tuesday!

"Our song"

I think I mentioned earlier that I'm singing at a friend's wedding. It's coming up tomorrow! Nerves, excitement and happiness for the couple as usual. I love weddings (which is lucky, as there seems to be a spate of pending marriages at our church at the moment) and more so when it's a Christian couple. To have someone commit to a life with another person with "God as their witness" is so much more meaningful when they actually believe that God is their witness!

Anyway, the question I always ask a couple that I sing for is - do you have "a song"?

Now, you know that I mean. Couples seem to inevitably find that special song - the one that was playing in that restaurant on their first date... the one they both heard at the radio at the same time and thought of each other... the one that came to mind when they pictured the other person etc etc.

Well, I was hunting around on some old disks the other day and found "our song" from when I was in a relationship with Peter. Now, we were the kind of couple that would sing and quote each other love songs every second day, so to narrow it down to one song might seem difficult. After all, we have a song for when he went overseas, a song for the first time we said "I love you", a song for pretty much every major event and emotion we experienced! This song was always the one he came back too though. At the time, I hadn't even heard of it, but it really is just bittersweet irony when you think about how we ended up living on opposite sides of the globe.

I'll always be there
You and I
have followed the trace, laid by
People of faith and pride
With hungry eyes

You and I
could conquer the stars, if we tried
or simply live by simpler vows
and let the storm go by

You and I
have written the book, line by line
The few things it took to survive
was your loving heart and mine

Should you go
Remember these words, as they show
Just how much I care, don't you know
I'll always be there

(I'll always be there)
There when the world and its promise is failing
(I'll always be there)
There when the frost of its winter is cursing
(I'll always be there)
There when the tears in your eyes keep asking me
(I'll always be there)
I'll always be there

You and I
will follow the trace, laid by
People of faith and pride
With angry eyes gone blind

You and I
will show them the light, we live by
So never again will they try
To keep us apart

(I'll always be there)
There when the world and its promise is failing
(I'll always be there)
There when the frost of its winter is cursing
(I'll always be there)
There when the tears in your eyes keep on asking me why
(asking me why)

I'll always be there

Selamat So(-)re!

Afternoon y'all!

Pulling my really rusty Indonesian out of the "languages I learnt in high school" bag of tricks. There's not much else in there, except being able to count to 10 in Italian, French, German, Mandarin and Spanish!

I'm on my way home (yay - early mark!) so while I did spend 10 whole minutes weighing up whether to stay and blog more and catch the early train, I'm afraid that going home won.

Of course, this is the first night I will be at home since Saturday night! I've been staying with Kaz in the apartment she's minding for a friend from Sunday. It's been really great! Good food, good company, good singing - you'll have to read her blog for the gories. Anyway, I'm going for the weekend, but I'll be back in the city next week.

PS - if you're curious, she's even got some pics of me up there too, taken on the 2nd night I was there! And hence, the reason why I now want a webcam!