1. Saw Artemesia Bellerose and Sergei Zhalobov-Bogaevsky together at the Golden Globes.
It's strange watching the show, because I haven't seen many of the shows and movies that were nominated. I think the only thing I've watched that has nominations is Modern Family.
I think there's been one Aussie nomination—Guy Pearce.
Nicole Kidman and Elle Macphereson did the presenting thing.
2. Disappointed that they didn't show scenes from The Power of One during the honoring of Morgan Freeman.
3. Watched trailer for The Power of One. I think I meant to do that after I read the book, but I forgot to do it.
4. Thought it was neat that Meryl Streep honored Mia Wasikowska in her Golden Globes acceptance speech.
5. Went to sleep and had a dream that, My former Australian friend sends me a letter through snail mail. It's in a book form, and it's very long. I'm sort of happy to hear from her even though I banished her from my life months again. I skim through some of it and can't find anything mentioned about the ending of our friendship. She writes as if none of that happened.
7. Enjoyed reading Diane B's journal of her family's migration to Australia in 1949. She has great photos and great excerpts from her mom's diary during the trip.
8. Realized I kind of hate reading Google News Australia. All it really does is give me gruesome ideas of how my life, and the lives of those I love, might tragically end.
It's so scary and depressing.
Local news (no matter where the locality) is rarely uplifting and encouraging.
9. Heard a Crowded House song I've never heard before. It's called "Elephants".
I like it. And I can sort of relate to some of the lyrics.
10. Ate a Caramello Santa. They are so incredibly delicious.
I feel Cadbury IS better than American chocolate. But it might be my imagination.
11. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read a story I started reading back before my hiatus. It's called Illuminate The Way.
Miria Jones, the graffiti artist I read about yesterday, is one of the stars. The other star is Alexander Kemuri.
There's been two new posts added since I last read— one in December and one yesterday.
12. Started to read.
I had a little confusion because Miria is also known as Milo. I went back to look at my old post about her and saw that I had called her Milo. At first I thought I had made a mistake; perhaps I had been thinking about the Milo drink powder when writing about her. But now I see it's a nickname.
Anyway, Alexander has rescued Miria. He takes her to his family's shop. She wonders if he's magic or not. The shop has herbs, but Muggles have herbs in their shops sometimes. Then she realizes he said some magical words. She feels more comfortable knowing they're both from the wizarding world tribe.
13. Saw that Alexander plans to put Miria to work. He rescued her. Now he's going to have her help him do the store's inventory.
That's a good idea.
I used to help Tim do inventory sometimes, when he was a store manager.
14. Started to read the biography of Alexander Kemuri.
His face claim is Miyavi. Lord Wiki says Miyavi is a Japanese musician.
15. Watched a bit of a Miyavi video.
The music is kind of cool, but all the spinning in the video makes me dizzy.
16. Learned that Alexander is tall, which I think is unusual for an Asian person.
He's taller than his family and other relatives.
17. Learned that Alexander is one of those thin people who's thin, because he often forgets to eat.
I sometimes wish I had that problem.
The book I'm reading now has a character like that. There's a man who's an artist. He gets very busy and distracted. He forgets to eat.
I do get busy enough on occasion to forget to eat but not often enough to make me thin. I mean it's pretty damn rare for me to miss a meal....or a snack.
18. Learned that Alexander has piercings and tattoos. I saw a bit of that from the actual story.
19. Thought maybe there was a bit of a contradiction in Alexander's biography...or maybe not.
It says, Alex is aggressive both in demeanor and actions and will rise to the bait or specifically provoke people until they get angry at him.
Then it says, Of course, he doesn’t mean to make people angry. He’s just very forward with what he says, bold, brash, and in typical Australian fashion, makes all sorts of jokes about the people he is talking to you.
In the first line it sounds like he DOES purposely make people angry but in the second line, it says he doesn't.
Although maybe he provokes people in the hopes that they don't get angry.
Maybe he tests people. I'm guilty of that sometimes. I say something to prove to myself that a person will disappoint me in some way, but I'm also hoping to prove myself wrong.
20. Reminded of myself when I read this about Alex. He needs approval or praise from his mates, reaffirmation that maybe he’s doing something right for once.
That is so much like me. Why are some of us like that? And why are some people not?
I wonder about the people who say they don't need approval and attention; yet they already get so much of it. Do they not need it and by chance happen to get it? Or do they think they don't need it, because they've never truly imagined being without it?
Then there's the people who don't get attention or affirmation, and they don't seem to care. Are they more self-confident than me? More oblivious? They mystify me. I guess because I'm so different from them.
21. Started to read Alex's history.
His mother is a Muggleborn wizard, and his father is a Muggle.
22. Learned that Alexander's parents sell herbs to both Muggles and magical folks.
23. Learned that Alexander has a genetic eye disease called Stargardt. It causes progressive visual problem. It's incurable in the Muggle world and the magical world.
That's sad and scary.
Alexander's parents thought he was faking the whole thing at first. They thought he just wanted attention. They took him to the doctor who told them nothing was wrong.
It's not fun when you're having some kind of physical problem, and people don't take your complaints seriously.
There are people, though, who fake and exaggerate illness to get attention. So it's not always a cut and dry situation.
24. Learned that Alex doesn't like the dark, because it reminds him that one day that's what his life may be like.
It's very sad.
I'd hate to be blind.
I like seeing things.
25. Thought this line in Alex's biography was very cute. Alex very openly plays for both sides of the Quidditch pitch, if you know what I mean.
26. Saw that I have multiple Australians of the day today. It's a family of pastoralists with the last name Armstrong.
The family moved to Geelong where the Armstrong from yesterday lived. I wonder if they're related.
27. Looked back at at Edmund la Touche Armstrong's biography and was reminded that his parents came from Ireland. Today's Armstrong family came from Scotland. So I'm guessing they're not related.
28. Learned that the Armstrong family had a lot of property.
29. Watched a mass pillow fight in Melbourne.
That's a fun idea.
I'd be a little nervous that some evil person would fill their pillow with something heavy and kill people.
30. Looked back at the Australian government toilet website. I was wrong. There's not a six to eight hour drive to Broome without toilets.
Between Fitzroy Crossing and Broome there are two toilets. That's good to know. I'm not adding Broome back on our itinerary, though. I'm too lazy to rework the whole thing. Plus, there's a three hour stretch between toilets, and even that might not be possible for me. I usually can't make it past two hours, sometimes not even one hour. Heck, at times I'm peeing every 20 minutes.
31. Started to look at Fredweng's Day 15 in Australia Flickr set.
I think he's still on Kangaroo Island.
32. Thought this picture of the farm house property was quite pretty. I like all the green.
I like this one too. The tree in the middle seems to be dancing...kind of like a drunk aunt at a wedding.
33. Saw lots of pictures of sheep.
34. Liked this picture of laundry.
Hanging laundry can sometimes be really beautiful.
35. Wondered about this breakfast. What is it? It's like Rice Krispies (Bubbles) mixed with fruit cocktail?
I've never considered combining those two. I wonder how it would taste.
35. Saw a photo labeled Remarkable Rock. I wasn't sure if that was the name of the rock, or if it was Fredweng's way of describing it.
I googled.
It turns out that's the name of the rock. Or really it's the name of multiple rocks.
They ARE pretty remarkable.
I think this one looks like a beggar looking up to the heavens, asking God for help. Or no...actually I think she's asking a fellow human for assistance. Please can you spare a dollar?
I think this one looks like two friends talking to each other; one big and one small. The big one is a bit condescending because of the size difference.
36. Went to Funtrivia to take another Australian quiz.
This one is about Aussie stereotypes.
I'm not supposed to take it if I'm lacking a sense of humor.
Well...we'll see what happens.
37. Started the quiz.
I like it already.
I get what the quiz maker is saying, though. It's not factual. It's how outsiders view Australians.
Some people might become confused and get offended.
38. Laughed a lot at question #6. What's the best mode of transportation in the outback?
The kangaroo of course!
39. Got the last question wrong and learned Australians did NOT invent beer filtration, meat pies, and hats with corks danging from them.
Oops.
That was a great quiz, though.
40. Saw from the quiz statistics that only 26% of the quiz participants know that kangaroos are the most popular mode of transport in Australia.
What the hell is wrong with this world?
41. Received a comment on my Harry Potter blog. It's weird because I was thinking of totally quitting it today.
I didn't write in it for months, but I felt kind of bad because I can see from Statcounter that one or two people check the blog every few days. It's like they were waiting for Alex to say something.
So a week or so ago, Alex said something.
I was thinking of having her do a post every so often. But then today, I got stressed about it. I don't know if I can handle writing two fictional stories at once, especially when they are happening at the same place.
Alex lives in Kiama, but not in 2012. She's there in 1999.
Maybe Pretend Tim, Pretend Dina, and Pretend Jack stood in the exact same place Alex stood in Kiama, but at different times. Maybe they sensed each other.
Maybe Alex stays in Kiama and is there as an adult in 2012. Maybe pretend Dina, pretend Tim, and pretend Jack stood near her at a shop and didn't even know it.
There are so many possibilities.
42. Realized I wrote about Alex from Tallygarunga today, and Tallygarunga is a Harry Potter spin-off as well.
That Alex is a boy, though. My Alex is a girl.
One of my favorite Australians is named Alex. He's actually a real person. He didn't come from my imagination. He MIGHT be a wizard, but I'm guessing he's a Muggle.
It's strange watching the show, because I haven't seen many of the shows and movies that were nominated. I think the only thing I've watched that has nominations is Modern Family.
I think there's been one Aussie nomination—Guy Pearce.
Nicole Kidman and Elle Macphereson did the presenting thing.
2. Disappointed that they didn't show scenes from The Power of One during the honoring of Morgan Freeman.
3. Watched trailer for The Power of One. I think I meant to do that after I read the book, but I forgot to do it.
4. Thought it was neat that Meryl Streep honored Mia Wasikowska in her Golden Globes acceptance speech.
5. Went to sleep and had a dream that, My former Australian friend sends me a letter through snail mail. It's in a book form, and it's very long. I'm sort of happy to hear from her even though I banished her from my life months again. I skim through some of it and can't find anything mentioned about the ending of our friendship. She writes as if none of that happened.
She tells me what's going on in her life. She says she's now living somewhere in the outback. Her letter makes me smile. There's a part of me that's missed her and time has diminished most of the negative feelings I had towards her. I wonder if ending our friendship had been a mistake.
I decide I'll write her back, but I want to wait. I feel bad, though, because I imagine she's nervous about my reaction. It feels cruel to make her wait for a response. Then I remember she sent this through snail mail...overseas snail mail. She's probably already waited a long time and can't have been expecting a quick response.
I do think of emailing her and saying something like, "I got your letter. I'll respond soon". But it seems weird to do that.
I worry a little bit about corresponding with her again, because her emails are so long and involved. It's time consuming to read what she's written and give it a thorough response.
I worry a little bit about corresponding with her again, because her emails are so long and involved. It's time consuming to read what she's written and give it a thorough response.
I look at more of her book. She has photos of her life. Then she also has photos of my life—my family and friends. I think it's sweet that she did this but also a bit much. It's kind of intense...scary. She writes that she hopes these ARE my family and friends and that she didn't copy the wrong photos. For some reason, this totally cracks me up.
6. Learned something funny about Qantas on Andrew's blog post.
7. Enjoyed reading Diane B's journal of her family's migration to Australia in 1949. She has great photos and great excerpts from her mom's diary during the trip.
8. Realized I kind of hate reading Google News Australia. All it really does is give me gruesome ideas of how my life, and the lives of those I love, might tragically end.
It's so scary and depressing.
Local news (no matter where the locality) is rarely uplifting and encouraging.
9. Heard a Crowded House song I've never heard before. It's called "Elephants".
I like it. And I can sort of relate to some of the lyrics.
10. Ate a Caramello Santa. They are so incredibly delicious.
I feel Cadbury IS better than American chocolate. But it might be my imagination.
11. Went to Tallygarunga.
Today I'm going to read a story I started reading back before my hiatus. It's called Illuminate The Way.
Miria Jones, the graffiti artist I read about yesterday, is one of the stars. The other star is Alexander Kemuri.
There's been two new posts added since I last read— one in December and one yesterday.
12. Started to read.
I had a little confusion because Miria is also known as Milo. I went back to look at my old post about her and saw that I had called her Milo. At first I thought I had made a mistake; perhaps I had been thinking about the Milo drink powder when writing about her. But now I see it's a nickname.
Anyway, Alexander has rescued Miria. He takes her to his family's shop. She wonders if he's magic or not. The shop has herbs, but Muggles have herbs in their shops sometimes. Then she realizes he said some magical words. She feels more comfortable knowing they're both from the wizarding world tribe.
13. Saw that Alexander plans to put Miria to work. He rescued her. Now he's going to have her help him do the store's inventory.
That's a good idea.
I used to help Tim do inventory sometimes, when he was a store manager.
14. Started to read the biography of Alexander Kemuri.
His face claim is Miyavi. Lord Wiki says Miyavi is a Japanese musician.
15. Watched a bit of a Miyavi video.
The music is kind of cool, but all the spinning in the video makes me dizzy.
16. Learned that Alexander is tall, which I think is unusual for an Asian person.
He's taller than his family and other relatives.
17. Learned that Alexander is one of those thin people who's thin, because he often forgets to eat.
I sometimes wish I had that problem.
The book I'm reading now has a character like that. There's a man who's an artist. He gets very busy and distracted. He forgets to eat.
I do get busy enough on occasion to forget to eat but not often enough to make me thin. I mean it's pretty damn rare for me to miss a meal....or a snack.
18. Learned that Alexander has piercings and tattoos. I saw a bit of that from the actual story.
19. Thought maybe there was a bit of a contradiction in Alexander's biography...or maybe not.
It says, Alex is aggressive both in demeanor and actions and will rise to the bait or specifically provoke people until they get angry at him.
Then it says, Of course, he doesn’t mean to make people angry. He’s just very forward with what he says, bold, brash, and in typical Australian fashion, makes all sorts of jokes about the people he is talking to you.
In the first line it sounds like he DOES purposely make people angry but in the second line, it says he doesn't.
Although maybe he provokes people in the hopes that they don't get angry.
Maybe he tests people. I'm guilty of that sometimes. I say something to prove to myself that a person will disappoint me in some way, but I'm also hoping to prove myself wrong.
20. Reminded of myself when I read this about Alex. He needs approval or praise from his mates, reaffirmation that maybe he’s doing something right for once.
That is so much like me. Why are some of us like that? And why are some people not?
I wonder about the people who say they don't need approval and attention; yet they already get so much of it. Do they not need it and by chance happen to get it? Or do they think they don't need it, because they've never truly imagined being without it?
Then there's the people who don't get attention or affirmation, and they don't seem to care. Are they more self-confident than me? More oblivious? They mystify me. I guess because I'm so different from them.
21. Started to read Alex's history.
His mother is a Muggleborn wizard, and his father is a Muggle.
22. Learned that Alexander's parents sell herbs to both Muggles and magical folks.
23. Learned that Alexander has a genetic eye disease called Stargardt. It causes progressive visual problem. It's incurable in the Muggle world and the magical world.
That's sad and scary.
Alexander's parents thought he was faking the whole thing at first. They thought he just wanted attention. They took him to the doctor who told them nothing was wrong.
It's not fun when you're having some kind of physical problem, and people don't take your complaints seriously.
There are people, though, who fake and exaggerate illness to get attention. So it's not always a cut and dry situation.
24. Learned that Alex doesn't like the dark, because it reminds him that one day that's what his life may be like.
It's very sad.
I'd hate to be blind.
I like seeing things.
25. Thought this line in Alex's biography was very cute. Alex very openly plays for both sides of the Quidditch pitch, if you know what I mean.
26. Saw that I have multiple Australians of the day today. It's a family of pastoralists with the last name Armstrong.
The family moved to Geelong where the Armstrong from yesterday lived. I wonder if they're related.
27. Looked back at at Edmund la Touche Armstrong's biography and was reminded that his parents came from Ireland. Today's Armstrong family came from Scotland. So I'm guessing they're not related.
28. Learned that the Armstrong family had a lot of property.
29. Watched a mass pillow fight in Melbourne.
That's a fun idea.
I'd be a little nervous that some evil person would fill their pillow with something heavy and kill people.
30. Looked back at the Australian government toilet website. I was wrong. There's not a six to eight hour drive to Broome without toilets.
Between Fitzroy Crossing and Broome there are two toilets. That's good to know. I'm not adding Broome back on our itinerary, though. I'm too lazy to rework the whole thing. Plus, there's a three hour stretch between toilets, and even that might not be possible for me. I usually can't make it past two hours, sometimes not even one hour. Heck, at times I'm peeing every 20 minutes.
31. Started to look at Fredweng's Day 15 in Australia Flickr set.
I think he's still on Kangaroo Island.
32. Thought this picture of the farm house property was quite pretty. I like all the green.
I like this one too. The tree in the middle seems to be dancing...kind of like a drunk aunt at a wedding.
33. Saw lots of pictures of sheep.
34. Liked this picture of laundry.
Hanging laundry can sometimes be really beautiful.
35. Wondered about this breakfast. What is it? It's like Rice Krispies (Bubbles) mixed with fruit cocktail?
I've never considered combining those two. I wonder how it would taste.
35. Saw a photo labeled Remarkable Rock. I wasn't sure if that was the name of the rock, or if it was Fredweng's way of describing it.
I googled.
It turns out that's the name of the rock. Or really it's the name of multiple rocks.
They ARE pretty remarkable.
I think this one looks like a beggar looking up to the heavens, asking God for help. Or no...actually I think she's asking a fellow human for assistance. Please can you spare a dollar?
I think this one looks like two friends talking to each other; one big and one small. The big one is a bit condescending because of the size difference.
36. Went to Funtrivia to take another Australian quiz.
This one is about Aussie stereotypes.
I'm not supposed to take it if I'm lacking a sense of humor.
Well...we'll see what happens.
37. Started the quiz.
I like it already.
I get what the quiz maker is saying, though. It's not factual. It's how outsiders view Australians.
Some people might become confused and get offended.
38. Laughed a lot at question #6. What's the best mode of transportation in the outback?
The kangaroo of course!
39. Got the last question wrong and learned Australians did NOT invent beer filtration, meat pies, and hats with corks danging from them.
Oops.
That was a great quiz, though.
40. Saw from the quiz statistics that only 26% of the quiz participants know that kangaroos are the most popular mode of transport in Australia.
What the hell is wrong with this world?
41. Received a comment on my Harry Potter blog. It's weird because I was thinking of totally quitting it today.
I didn't write in it for months, but I felt kind of bad because I can see from Statcounter that one or two people check the blog every few days. It's like they were waiting for Alex to say something.
So a week or so ago, Alex said something.
I was thinking of having her do a post every so often. But then today, I got stressed about it. I don't know if I can handle writing two fictional stories at once, especially when they are happening at the same place.
Alex lives in Kiama, but not in 2012. She's there in 1999.
Maybe Pretend Tim, Pretend Dina, and Pretend Jack stood in the exact same place Alex stood in Kiama, but at different times. Maybe they sensed each other.
Maybe Alex stays in Kiama and is there as an adult in 2012. Maybe pretend Dina, pretend Tim, and pretend Jack stood near her at a shop and didn't even know it.
There are so many possibilities.
42. Realized I wrote about Alex from Tallygarunga today, and Tallygarunga is a Harry Potter spin-off as well.
That Alex is a boy, though. My Alex is a girl.
One of my favorite Australians is named Alex. He's actually a real person. He didn't come from my imagination. He MIGHT be a wizard, but I'm guessing he's a Muggle.
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