Saturday 28 February 2009

For all you cat lovers


It's another two weeks until the extreme pain of exams is done, so I'm not sttiching at all, at the moment. I'm feeling quite insane, but that's temporary, so another story for another time. LOL

Since I did get this little cutie advertised through my inbox twice in the last few days, I thought I'd share it with you. Being the dog person that I am (go figure), I love it! I'd love to buy it, too, but won't for now, because the Australian price is $64.00 + p & h. I want to spend my money locally, but it just buys so little! The same thing costs $29.99US + p & h overseas (which is still $20+AUD less when converted).

Meanwhile, thank you to all the lovely people who have sent me letters & emails to cheer me along. Some nice soul even sent me the anonymous gift of a light house kit. Your efforts are most appreciated and have done wonders. The last 4 months (what with work commitments and house repairs) have been an absolute nightmare. After this coming Tuesday's big exam, sanity will return and the pace will calm a whole lot. I will start stitching and commence blogging again after a recovery weekend at the coast with the In-Laws next weekend.

Meanwhile, happiness & laughter to one and all.

Stay well, avoid too much chocolate (because the Easter overload is just around the corner and you won't enjoy it if you've had too much beforehand) and take medical advice (things women of a certain age never do).

Felicity

Thursday 26 February 2009

Bus driver takes out-of-control passengers to police station for dressing down

It's about time!
I found this article here

It's such a pity St Mary's administration has its head in the sand.

A VETERAN bus driver has driven his out-of-control student passengers to the police station for a dressing down.

Westside Bus Company driver Graham King said he had originally worried he might get into trouble over the incident, in which he drove unruly students from St Edmund's and St Mary's College at Ipswich to the Yamanto police station on Tuesday afternoon, The Courier-Mail reports.

"They were refusing to put seatbelts on," Mr King explained.

"They were told to sit down and behave themselves ... (but) within a couple of kilometres they were running around the bus and they started pegging things."

"Something hit me in the back of the head, which I didn't know at the time what it was, so I pulled over and stopped.

"I rang Operations and they asked me if it was dangerous, which it could have been if it had gone through the windscreen or knocked me out - we could have ended up having a serious accident."

The offending object turned out to be a hard-boiled lolly, but Mr King said it could just as easily have been a cricket ball.

"Safety is my biggest issue," he said.

"I don't know if you have ever seen where a child has gone through a windscreen or a glass window and seen what sort of mess (is made). Well I have .... and I don't want to see it again."

Ipswich Police District Inspector Kevin Keillor described Mr King's decision to involve them as "fantastic".

Insp Keillor said police had already attended two accidents involving school buses - including one fatal crash - in their district over the past couple of weeks and Mr King's action had ensured that there wasn't another.

St Edmund's College principal Brendan Lawler said Mr King's decision was a positive one and students now faced disciplinary action.

St Mary's College has denied their students were involved.

Friday 13 February 2009

Oops!


I received an unexpected email today. It seems that when I signed up for my exams to be supervised, I missed booking one of them. The pressure is slightly off because I will have to do it in mid-March.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I've been at nervous breakdown stage for so long, I can't work out if what I feel is relief or increased hysteria.

Let me assure you, the work still has to be done, and every day there seems more of it. I'm doing 3 software language subjects this semester and some basic scientific mathematics. At the moment, the computing stuff is a bit like learning emmersion Russian. I can't make head or tail of it. The maths I can cope with because during my 20s and 30s I had so many maths exam preparation nightmares (which I suppose were leftovers from school days) that having done maths in my sleep for all those decades, it now seems like a piece of cake. LOL.

Out of left field, I've got a question for you, dear readers. Why was it that it was traditionally men who wrote and who read science fiction? I know it's changing now, but why did women only have token or baddie roles in the genre in the past (usually requiring a stainless steal bra worn like Madonna used to) and almost never the 'superhero' role? Or so says one of my lecturers. I really do need your input on this one to write an essay.

Myself, I'd have thought it quite obvious: men who were out saving the world in the past wouldn't have the multitasking ability to take along the wife / girlfriend and breastfed baby to get in the way. No one in the olden days could save the world, contend with deep and meaningful conversations and balance a baby on his hip like the Incredibles can do today. It was simple maths. The man did it all without accepting help from anyone, except perhaps a side-kick robot. It would have been loss of face in those days, so he needed both hands free! And, then again, the kinds of guys who saved the world in sci-fi back then probably were more like that guy in 'The Librarian' films before he realised he was hot stuff. They were nerds. In the olden days, guys had wives and significant others after they were done doing the dangerous work! The babes or other females other than the mother probably weren't part of the scene at all! Can I use this argument? Chuckle. Probably not!

(An aside: there isn't much evidence of homosexuality in early sci fi, either, but that's another story and one I'm not going to dare to explore under exam conditions!)

What's everyone doing for St Valentine's Day?

The MOTH has booked a table at Brett's Wharf on the Brisbane River. We went there the year we moved to Brisbane for St Valentine's Day and it was lovely!

Happiness & laughter to one and all. Enjoy whatever you do this weekend.

Felicity

Oops!


I received an unexpected email today. It seems that when I signed up for my exams to be supervised, I missed booking one of them. The pressure is slightly off because I will have to do it in mid-March.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. I've been at nervous breakdown stage for so long, I can't work out if what I feel is relief or increased hysteria.

Let me assure you, the work still has to be done, and every day there seems more of it. I'm doing 3 software language subjects this semester and some basic scientific mathematics. At the moment, the computing stuff is a bit like learning emmersion Russian. I can't make head or tail of it. The maths I can cope with because during my 20s and 30s I had so many maths exam preparation nightmares (which I suppose were leftovers from school days) that having done maths in my sleep for all those decades, it now seems like a piece of cake. LOL.

Out of left field, I've got a question for you, dear readers. Why was it that it was traditionally men who wrote and who read science fiction? I know it's changing now, but why did women only have token or baddie roles in the genre in the past (usually requiring a stainless steal bra worn like Madonna used to) and almost never the 'superhero' role? Or so says one of my lecturers. I really do need your input on this one to write an essay.

Myself, I'd have thought it quite obvious: men who were out saving the world in the past wouldn't have the multitasking ability to take along the wife / girlfriend and breastfed baby to get in the way. No one in the olden days could save the world, contend with deep and meaningful conversations and balance a baby on his hip like the Incredibles can do today. It was simple maths. The man did it all without accepting help from anyone, except perhaps a side-kick robot. It would have been loss of face in those days, so he needed both hands free! And, then again, the kinds of guys who saved the world in sci-fi back then probably were more like that guy in 'The Librarian' films before he realised he was hot stuff. They were nerds. In the olden days, guys had wives and significant others after they were done doing the dangerous work! The babes or other females other than the mother probably weren't part of the scene at all! Can I use this argument? Chuckle. Probably not!

(An aside: there isn't much evidence of homosexuality in early sci fi, either, but that's another story and one I'm not going to dare to explore under exam conditions!)

What's everyone doing for St Valentine's Day?

The MOTH has booked a table at Brett's Wharf on the Brisbane River. We went there the year we moved to Brisbane for St Valentine's Day and it was lovely!

Happiness & laughter to one and all. Enjoy whatever you do this weekend.

Felicity

Sunday 8 February 2009

Queen of the Seas - Update No 10


Apologies for the dreadful pic, folks


Perhaps I shouldn't be updating. More study, more study! Truth be told, I'm so over study that a break is desperately needed. Not that I've done enough stitching to warrent an update. I just really needed to make contact with your folks, once more.

Here is my tiny effort over the last few weeks.

On the personal front, I've got to make choices that I'd rather not make. My MIL and my sister are both celebrating important birthdays with a party on the same day (which is neither's actual birthday) but 600km apart. What do I do? Do I celebrate my MIL's 80th birthday or do I celebrate my sister, Jane's, 50th? I'm torn. What would you do, folks?

Happiness & laughter to one and all,

Felicity