the synapses, they are random

 journal, pre-crash, shadow bound  4 Responses »
Jun 262007
 

Well, ticky it is. I knew you were all rational, logical, right-thinking people ;)

Why is it, whenever I decide to be good and not eat unhealthy foods, it's somebody's birthday and I am served mudcake with whipped cream? You can't refuse to eat birthday cake: it's rude. I ate the birthday cake. And the whipped cream. And the slab of chocolate on top of the whipped cream. Yes, I am definitely full now.

Torchwood started last week, and Doctor Who starts this week. No less than two Doctor Who episodes this week! *bounces* Who needs a social life when TV is in the good season? For my North American friends who do not have broadband or otherwise do not download the UK episodes and are therefore forced to wait even longer than me for their fanfix (are there any of you?), I promise not to be too gleeful. Or spoilery. But I reserve the right to bounce. Yes.

Despite promises to the contrary, I have not started the sequel. This is because I am bad. I could claim storms, and big boats on the beach, and the first birthday of the baby toddler — but really, it's because I'm bad. I have started pre-writing plotting thinking about it, though. I shall be more productive in July.

In the meantime, it's time for a photo. Here is me as a littlun, practising my snooty look.

How perfect is that? Man, I was so much better than whoever was taking that photo. I only wish I could nail such admirably snooty looks now.

you tell me

 administrivia, journal, pre-crash  Comments Off
Jun 222007
 

I found a new poll plugin last night, and this one means I can have ticky boxes in my polls. Unfortunately, it does not display the poll in the feeds: it just has a bland little text message directing readers back to the site. Which is better than a blank nothing, but it's still not ideal.

The last poll plugin did display in the feeds — but no ticky boxes :(

So, since I know a lot of you read this site via LJ feeds, I thought: a poll! What's more important? Being able to have ticky boxes in the poll? Or having the poll displayed in the feed?

[poll=2]

(The irony of a ticky-less poll in this circumstance is not lost on me :| )

 Posted by at 8:31 am  Tagged with:

i has intarwebs!

 administrivia, journal, pre-crash  2 Responses »
Jun 192007
 

Or at least, I have the phone line and the power and the wireless network up and running.

The net itself is a little sketchier.

And, here's the fun news: the stormwater drains are filling again. More heavy rains and storm-force winds are on the way. One local radio station has even claimed gale-force winds. (nooo! they be stealin mah intarwebs!)

Bear with me, peoples, the blog will be up and running once this stupid weather pattern stops being abusive.

In the meantime, have a lolcat:

via I Can Has Cheezburger, naturally.

we need lies to make it through the day

 journal, pre-crash  4 Responses »
Jun 132007
 

I have power! Oh, sweet electricity, how I missed you! Hot showers, how I missed you!

On a sadder note, I still have no internets.

To celebrate the return of power, I promptly went and ordered a copy of The Perishers' "Let There Be Morning", which I can highly recommend. I also bit the bullet and bought a new mobile phone (since the old one took a little fall and thereafter refused to turn on) — only to find my new number already belonged to poor Chris, who was beleaguered by calls and texts from my friends and family for a day before the network carrier figured out what they'd done wrong. Sorry about that, Chris, whoever you are. Electricity and modern networks and I have always had an uneasy relationship.

Also? I have decided my next garden will have pansies. Uprooted pansies never hurt anybody.

here away with the view of mountains

 administrivia, journal, pre-crash  7 Responses »
Jun 112007
 

staring at the floor for hours on end…

Hello! A quick update from work, where they have power and therefore the interwebs.

For those of you in and out of Aus worrying about my fate, all is well. There's a tree down on the pool (thankfully it only clipped the house on the way down; damage yet to be assessed but we're not open to the elements at least), but otherwise the storm has passed and now it's just a matter of cleaning up. We may not have power until the end of the week, and of course our phone line is still down. But at least the trees blocking the road either side of us have been removed, and I can get out of the house now.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, it all started on Friday morning, when gale-force winds and mammoth seas drove an empty coal tanker onto the beach. Seriously, it's only 100m offshore.

There were fears for three other ships at the time, struggling less than a kilometre offshore, engines at full-power yet unable to make any headway.

The storm on Friday night caused flash flooding in the CBD, among other areas.

My brother, caught in the flood, had to abandon his car in waist-deep water and walk wade home. It also uprooted trees and downed power lines over the entire region.

Definitely one of the worst weekends I've ever had to live through — especially when news forecasts predicted Saturday night's returning storm would in fact be worse than Friday night's. Worse than lifesavers ferrying people along the main street on jetskis? Worse than a tree on the house? Let's just say I had the cats' carrycases ready and the car packed.

Luckily the wind was from a different direction, and mostly passed us by, this time without any further damage. It's not over for people up the valley, however: all that rain means major flooding in the riverine system, with thousands of homes evacuated and the river still to reach its peak in some places.

I'll update again when we have power (and hot showers!) back. In the meantime, if I've missed anything important, leave me a comment here — there's no way I'm trawling through a missed weekend's worth of blog posts, for all y'all are a chatty lot.

See you on the other side!