Fire Story

I was about to finish a post about our little fire and escape, from a couple of weeks ago. I just couldn't at the time because of all the real bushfire drama. UPDATE. Apparently company that can't be named haven't sent us a cheque. Just a non-disclosure agreement. WTF?

So, just when I thought it was safe to make light of fire. Ha Ha. The kids turn on TV and RSPCA Animal Rescue is all about saving animals from the Victorian bushfires.

I'm too upset. There's nothing like watching people apologise for leaving their cat behind when they barely escaped the bushfires with their lives. And their children's lives. And you know how many people didn't.

the sacrifices one makes

I am embedding some excruciatingly bad video test footage here because it's late at night and I cannot be bothered remote accessing in to work to finish setting up... yadayadayada

I have melted chocolate bikkies on my fingers too which is slowing down the typing... fortunately almost no-one reads this blog cause i would be mortified if this was your first visit. Everyone else has no expectations to damage.

FINALLY! no more test footage.

The fed went live with 20 minutes of Sector Briefings in response to the Federal Government's economic stimulus package and sections of the "25 years of Housing Associations in NSW" video (from anniversary in 2007).

ALDI - the aesthetics of frugality

I like ALDI today. That's pretty changeable. I can LOATHE the place.

Today I went just after the school run. No crowds. I also now have a trolley token and don't have to

1. make unnecessary trip to other shop to get change
2. curse a lot
3. curse a lot more and attempt to carry 40kilos of shopping all the way home by hand

I also remembered to store some reuseable bags in the car AND get them out. Although I only took 2 with me because I only had 5 things on the shopping list. Will I never learn?

I'm hoping that when I get old I will learn how to come home from shopping with one small bag holding a half an apple, a twig and punnet of soap.

Now admittedly the trolley was deformed and qualified for disability access only they don't have any, but damn! I felt good about the whole shopping experience.

So good I added a few boxes of organic tea and muesli... and then.. well when you're going straight home after shopping you must SEIZE the opportunity to stock up on frozens.

Then the lovely vertical marketing, where one moment it's just a squishy gel bike seat that you're craving, then you've picked up matching handle bar covers, fingerless gloves, clip on carrypacks, luminescent stripes and a nifty little portable weatherproof bikeshed that can be fitted into a backpack and erected in minutes!

I felt positively European when I emerged. So efficient and well put together. I treated myself to some new chocolate ginger biscuits and felt even more virtuous when I sneered at the Speculaas. I am being healthy, in moderation!

I've got to enjoy this virtuosity while I can! It wears off when I run into the damn place at 3.15 or 7pm and they don't have brown rice for my suddenly fussy family. Or wholemeal pasta. Or any bread left. And I queue for a quarter of an hour, while pushy people jump ahead of me because their life is just plain more important and they open another checkout that everyone behind me runs to, only I'm trapped with all my goods on the incredibly long travelator of despair.

Last woman who pissed me off at ALDI was Irish and slid in front of me saying "You don't mind, do you?" When I said, "Yes, actually." she turned her back on me and pretended she didn't hear.

So, I upped the volume and repeated myself a couple of times till she turned back to me and huffed "You have no idea what's going on in my life!" All I could say was "What makes you think that everyone else here has nothing going on in their lives? Have you checked?"

I did worry though. The one time I complained about the neighbours parking in our driveway - 10pm carrying 3 sleeping children a rather long way with a bad back. Well, someone had just died. ZING.

However, I cynically wonder if this one's coasted through life smilingly saying "You don't mind, do you?" while doing exactly as she pleases and ignoring any unpleasantries. How do you get such a thick skin? I don't tan, I fry.

Then checkout cock slides my eggs off the end of the incredibly tiny packing space and everyone swears at me for misswiping my credit card which is in the exact opposite direction to Woolworths and Kmart and everywhere else. I have checked!

ALDI. Love it or loathe it.

The internet is blacked out!

The internet is a wide and wonderful place!

But my friends are luddites and won't get online.

Apparently things like gaming with my partner in separate rooms of the same house and communicating by headset gives virtual reality a bad name. I do think we're on to a winner with the real treadmill powering World of Warcraft corpse runs though!

Memo to self: Must hack treadmill! Now if we could put it together with the Roomba and the Wiimote Whiteboard... think we're on to something insanely amazing here! Warcraft controlled by wiimote causing new cleaning (and beer fetching) algorithm for Roomba all powered by treadmill human/rodent. I think we can get the government to fund this as modern performance installation art!

But I digress. I think there is as much real social interaction from internet communication as any other non face to face communication! I also love the surprise sites where I 'stumbleupon' something I wasn't looking for but am interested in. It's a continual trash and treasure market place!

Here's a tidbit unearthed from a rather old site regarding internet regulation and censorship which has cleverly reworked an even older poem. Both included below from www.razorsedge.org .

First they came...

First they came for the hackers.
But I never did anything illegal with my computer,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the pornographers.
But I thought there was too much smut on the Internet anyway,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the anonymous remailers.
But a lot of nasty stuff gets sent from anon.penet.fi,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for the encryption users.
But I could never figure out how to work PGP anyway,
so I didn't speak up.
Then they came for me.
And by that time there was no one left to speak up. -- Alara Rogers

In Germany they first came for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me -
and by that time no one was left to speak up.

-- Pastor Martin Niemöller

Where did that post go? Roomies Exhib got lost!

Big apols but Roomies Exhib is still on and still fantastic. MUST SEE!

I am in the depths of exploring Twitter and World of Warcraft... Not to mention providing lots of real life tech support for my parents. And wondering when the robot stuff is going to fall in to place. And trying to organise the year's events for kleine kinder. And the rest. Blogging?

Roomies Exhibition 09 at Parliament House

I'm hearing great things from friends who've been. I confess I haven't made it there yet. Missed the opening last night.

Roomies 2009 Exhibition
5/2/09 to 27/2/09
Fountain Court
Parliament House
Macquarie St, Sydney
9516 4755
www.roomies.org.au

During February 2009, the art of 18 Roomies artists and their mentors will be on display at the Fountain Court Gallery, Parliament House, Sydney.

For the first time, work by 18 Roomies’ artists will be shown alongside their mentors. Over one hundred artworks are on display including drawings, paintings, prints, ceramics and textiles. Artists have also shared written statements about their experience with Roomies Artspace.

Roomies Artspace is a community non-profit studio where boarding house residents and artists with a disability have the opportunity to attend workshops, work individually or with a volunteer mentor to develop as a practicing artist in a safe supported environment.

SRY SOO BUSY... NOT PLAYING WOW

Not playing World Of Warcraft ! RLY NOT !


Every few years (ok 5 at last count) a xmas release activity (like Harry Potter on Xbox.. or before that Diablo!) comes along that keeps the sapient members of the household happy in their infrequent free time.

Then it becomes obsessive compulsive. Then we don't sleep for a week or two. And call in sick from work and school. Then all hell breaks loose in our daily lives but by then we're bored it so who cares.

Hey Roomies 09 Exhibition opened last night and I haven't updated the blog for 3 weeks. Oops. What can I say. Life is very busy right now. Did I mention the dishwasher tried to burn the house down earlier this week? And my parent's have moved in almost next door and we're still assembling Ikea furniture and making Aldi weekly special trips. And then returning everything.

I WISH I HAD TIME TO PLAY WOW RIGHT NOW!