1. Deleted my post with my video project because I was informed it's blocked in New Zealand and Australia.
The majority of my readers come from Australia, so.....
If anyone not Australian (or Kiwi) wants to see it, here's the link.
If blocked people want to see it, I can always send the file. It's not overly exciting—just a montage video of life at the lake house. If you plan to ever visit us in Texas, we'll be dragging you there. The video would give you a chance to see what you're in for.
Australia has a few cameos in the video, but you have to look carefully.
2. Read article about the US military in Darwin.
America is going to have a military presence there.
Why?
I have no idea.
I'm sure conspiracy theorists have some ideas. Maybe some of those ideas have merit.
Or maybe they don't.
3. Learned that the Sydney Harbour Bridge is going to be closed for construction. This article, though, says it will be closed only to cars. People will still be able to walk on the bridge, cycle on the bridge, take buses on the bridge, etc.
Taxis will also be allowed.
So I'm guessing for the construction they need less traffic rather than absolutely no traffic.
4. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read the continuation of The Next Step. This is the story with Sergei Zhalobov-Bogaevsky going on his first date with James Young.
James is nervous and excited, more so than he usually is on dates. He feels this is because there's something special about Sergei.
Could Sergei be the one?
5. Saw that James knocked into a waitress and got soda all over himself. He was very gracious about the whole thing. He apologized and helped clean up the mess. I like that.
6. Read Sergei's next post. He's very nervous—maybe even more nervous than James. He has doubts about the whole thing. He thinks he might be better off alone rather than doing the whole dating thing.
7. Learned that James likes cherry flavored things.
8. Reminded that James is a squib. I forgot about that. I like that he takes it in stride. He acts very secure with who he is—his homosexuality and his squibness. Yet he's not cocky about the whole thing.
9. Loved James' little monologue here.
Not at all, it makes you seem more real....not that you weren't but you know watching you play all those years...you seemed so...well unreal. Not in a bad way but like I don't know...you were so free. So high above me. I must admit I had a crush on you back then. But so did many other boys and girls. I used to think if I ever met him in person I'd treat him like a person and not like a celebrity and maybe he'll respect and like that. And then I meet you years later and act like a crazed fangirl...well boy. But I think I'm doing pretty well now.
I think that's very sweet. I think it's neat that James was a fan of Sergei, and now he's dating him. I guess many of us have had a fantasy of that happening for us.
I wonder how it would work out.
I think it could, and would, as long as the fandom is somewhat mutual. Does the celebrity truly love his or her partner; or does he just love the attention and adoration?
Sergei seems to like James for being James and not just because James is a fan. And it's really cute that Sergei, the celebrity is just as nervous about the date as James is. He might even be more nervous.
10. Saw that my Australian of the day is David Marwedel Archer.
David Archer's birthday was a day before my yesterday's Australian of the day.
Caroline Archer's birthday was February 22. David Archer's birthday is February 21.
They were born in different years. Caroline Archer was born in 1922. David Archer was born in 1897.
11. Saw that David Archer was related to the Archer family I wrote about a few weeks ago, the ones that had ties to Scotland and Norway. David was the grandson of one of the Archer sons.
12. Learned that David did military stuff. I'm guessing he did some fighting. But in addition to that, he performed in army concerts as a baritone singer and violinist.
13. Learned that David did work with sheep raising, and he also did work with horses.
The majority of my readers come from Australia, so.....
If anyone not Australian (or Kiwi) wants to see it, here's the link.
If blocked people want to see it, I can always send the file. It's not overly exciting—just a montage video of life at the lake house. If you plan to ever visit us in Texas, we'll be dragging you there. The video would give you a chance to see what you're in for.
Australia has a few cameos in the video, but you have to look carefully.
2. Read article about the US military in Darwin.
America is going to have a military presence there.
Why?
I have no idea.
I'm sure conspiracy theorists have some ideas. Maybe some of those ideas have merit.
Or maybe they don't.
3. Learned that the Sydney Harbour Bridge is going to be closed for construction. This article, though, says it will be closed only to cars. People will still be able to walk on the bridge, cycle on the bridge, take buses on the bridge, etc.
Taxis will also be allowed.
So I'm guessing for the construction they need less traffic rather than absolutely no traffic.
4. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read the continuation of The Next Step. This is the story with Sergei Zhalobov-Bogaevsky going on his first date with James Young.
James is nervous and excited, more so than he usually is on dates. He feels this is because there's something special about Sergei.
Could Sergei be the one?
5. Saw that James knocked into a waitress and got soda all over himself. He was very gracious about the whole thing. He apologized and helped clean up the mess. I like that.
6. Read Sergei's next post. He's very nervous—maybe even more nervous than James. He has doubts about the whole thing. He thinks he might be better off alone rather than doing the whole dating thing.
7. Learned that James likes cherry flavored things.
8. Reminded that James is a squib. I forgot about that. I like that he takes it in stride. He acts very secure with who he is—his homosexuality and his squibness. Yet he's not cocky about the whole thing.
9. Loved James' little monologue here.
Not at all, it makes you seem more real....not that you weren't but you know watching you play all those years...you seemed so...well unreal. Not in a bad way but like I don't know...you were so free. So high above me. I must admit I had a crush on you back then. But so did many other boys and girls. I used to think if I ever met him in person I'd treat him like a person and not like a celebrity and maybe he'll respect and like that. And then I meet you years later and act like a crazed fangirl...well boy. But I think I'm doing pretty well now.
I think that's very sweet. I think it's neat that James was a fan of Sergei, and now he's dating him. I guess many of us have had a fantasy of that happening for us.
I wonder how it would work out.
I think it could, and would, as long as the fandom is somewhat mutual. Does the celebrity truly love his or her partner; or does he just love the attention and adoration?
Sergei seems to like James for being James and not just because James is a fan. And it's really cute that Sergei, the celebrity is just as nervous about the date as James is. He might even be more nervous.
10. Saw that my Australian of the day is David Marwedel Archer.
David Archer's birthday was a day before my yesterday's Australian of the day.
Caroline Archer's birthday was February 22. David Archer's birthday is February 21.
They were born in different years. Caroline Archer was born in 1922. David Archer was born in 1897.
11. Saw that David Archer was related to the Archer family I wrote about a few weeks ago, the ones that had ties to Scotland and Norway. David was the grandson of one of the Archer sons.
12. Learned that David did military stuff. I'm guessing he did some fighting. But in addition to that, he performed in army concerts as a baritone singer and violinist.
13. Learned that David did work with sheep raising, and he also did work with horses.
14. Decided to start looking at Fredweng's Australian Flickr sets.
Each set represents a different day of his trip. Some of them have a lot of photos. It might take me a few days to get through them.
I'll start with the first day. According to flickr, the first day occurred on July 30, 2011.
15. Wondered what airline this plane is from.
It's something Asian.
I can see outside the window, and it almost looks like the plane is inside a building. It looks like there are tiles on the ground.
16. Looked at another picture of the plane. Again, it seems to be inside somewhere. Maybe it's a sample plane—one in the airport that you can go inside? That way you can try out the seats and all that.
17. Got idea from this photo that Fredweng went on Singapore Airlines.
18. Saw a photo of Central Station and thought, Oh, I wonder if Fredweng saw the hostel there. Then I remembered that's how I found his Flickr account in the first place. He had photos of the hostel.
19. Saw the entrance to the Railway Square YHA hostel.
20. Liked the hostel rooms that look like trains.
21. Wondered, when looking at this photo, how many toilets are available at the hostel. I know with the cheaper accommodations you share a bathroom. How many people do you share it with?
22. Felt excited and hopeful when I saw a photo of Darling Harbour. Tim went to the doctor today and got some fairly reassuring medical news. So going to Australia seems like a likely possibility.
I'm trying not to get too excited. I don't want to jinx our trip....or Tim's health.
The doctor feels Tim is probably having migraines. This isn't something we expected.
I'm a bit skeptical about the diagnosis. We'll see. They gave Tim a prescription. Hopefully it will help to relieve Tim's symptoms.
In the end, it's not about getting a label. It's about finding ways to feel better.
23. Read about migraines and felt a little less skeptical about the doctor's diagnosis.
I'm pretty sure I have them too. I have the fortification spectrum thing. I don't mind. It only happens once in awhile, and it goes away before I can get really annoyed. Most importantly I don't have the severe headaches. I would HATE to have that, and my extreme sympathy goes out to anyone who has them. I had a bad pressure-type headache on the airplane ride home. It lasted for only about ten minutes and that alone was upsetting to me.
24. Looked at the Australian Monopoly Board.
My space for today is Flinders Way. It's in Canberra.
25. Found Flinders Way on Google Maps.
It's near Griffith Park.
It's south of Parliament.
26. Saw some restaurants on the northern part of Flinder's Way. I'm wondering if it's where we ate at a few times. We went to this area that had restaurants. There was a vegetarian Asian restaurant, Middle-Eastern fast food, and an Ethiopian restaurant.
27. Found the shopping center I was thinking of. It's Dickson...or is in Dickson. Here it is on Google Maps.
28. Had my problems put into perspective by another blogger.
29. Decided to take another Australian Funtrivia quiz. This one's about Victorian Holidays.
It's labeled as easy.
We'll see about that.....
30. Got the first question wrong; but I think it was a trick question.
It was about New Years Day in the southern Hemisphere. True or false... does it occur on the last day of the previous year. I said true, and the answer was false.
But from MY perspective, Australia does celebrate New Years the last day of the previous year.
Now I'm feeling all ethnocentric.
31. Got the 7th question wrong.
It was about Queen Elizabeth's birthday.
I actually forgot the question. It was something to do with celebrating her birthday in June. But she wasn't born in June. She was born in April.
32. Finished the quiz. I got 8/10 which is the average.
33. Read the Queen Elizabeth question again. I guess the idea is Victorians celebrate her birthday in June even though her birthday is in April. The quiz says one reason it isn't celebrated on her actual birthday is that her birthday is April 26. It's too close to Anzac day.
Oh...and the other thing wrong on the true/false statement is about the timing of the birthday. The false statement says it's celebrated on the first Monday in June. In reality it's celebrated on the second Monday of June.
34. Looked at my calendar. If I'm understanding things right, in 2012 the queen's birthday will be celebrated on June 10.
Read my novel: The Dead are Online