Teaser Tuesday 100608

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

5.3.21.01.002: Once allocated, postcodes are permanent, and for life.

pg. 79



I discovered this book via someone's teaser tuesday and I am glad I added it to my reading list. I really enjoyed it - unfortunately the sequels are not due out for at least some years. :( I tried to buy the first book in another series by this author...but to no avail!! But this book was a lot of fun.

Teaser tuesday 100601

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

"I've heard that before" I tell her. "I'm sure the Congolese heard it every day for a hundred years while they had to forbear the Belgians. Now they finally get a fighting chance, and we're sitting here watching it get born dead...."
pg. 476.



I loved this book - I couldn't put it down. It was one of those books which makes you angry and also makes you rethink how you treat people and the assumptions you make. I highly recommend it!!!

Sorry

Sorry I have not been around. Just had an ultra hectic week - so tired and exhausted. Hopefully shall catch up on everyone's blogs this weekend and write a post of my own.

On an excited note ...

I got a first class honours :) (well..i was told this informally..but still!!!) so I shall have a

Bachelor of Science (Advanced) (Honours First Class)!!

Yay

Seven Deadly Sins!

I was tagged by E. at Whining at the World



Sloth - how do you relax?

With a bath and a book. Or with a book of pixel problems (a type of logic problem).

Gluttony - What can't you get enough of, even though it's bad for you?

Cheese (and crackers). Salsa and cornchips.

Greed - What do you get greedy for?

For more books! And time with my boyfriend!!

Envy - What makes you green?

At the moment - people who have had already had their honours consensus meeting and know how they went! Otherwise...my grandparents who get to travel around australia all the time!

Lust - What does it for you?

Ummm...long eyelashes. In terms of if I could have anyone...David Tennant in Doctor Who...Richard Armitage (when in North and South..and I am actually kinda liking him in Robin Hood at the moment) and the phantom of the Opera. So I guess..what really does do it for me is confidence and someone who is skilled at something and gets exitable about it!

Pride - What are you inordinately proud of?

Me handing in my honours project on time. And for lasting over 6 and a half months without my boyfreind (yay..half way point).


Wrath (Anger) - What makes you cranky?

Injustice. SO angry I sometimes cry. In a more trivial light..people who are always late.

So to pass it on...
well...basically most people who regulary comment on this blog have either been tagged for this meme or I have recently tagged for something else...so anyone can do it!!!

Teaser Tuesday 100518

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I have a bed made of Buttermilk Pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty

"It's just that we all agreed on this, okay? It's no offence or anything. See we just decided things are kind of different now we're in Year 7, and you have to kind of like make the tough decisions? If you're going to survive. And we think you're not kind of right for survival. okay?"

pg 73 -74



This book is set in Sydney - so a big plus for me there. I love reading this book ..probably the fifth time I have read it. It is quirky, easy to read and funny, everyone should check it out :)

A guest post

Today I am guest posting about my favourite books at A study in contradictions..so go check it out!

My photoshoot

I thought I would just post up some of the photos from my recent photoshoot with SF Marler Photography. No laughing! I thought I would do some book reading ones (since I am such a book nerd) and some pretty ones...













What is everyone's favourite? Also, since everyone has been posting photos of themselves without makeup I thought I would add the note that I am sans makeup aside from a tiny bit of mascara..

Simple pleasures

Ages ago E. from Whining at the World awarded me the Beautiful Blogger award so now I am finally getting round to it!!!



The rules are as follows
1. Thank and link to the person that gave you the award
2. Pass the award along to 7-9-15- however many bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic!
3. Contact said Blogs and let them know they’ve won
4. State 7 things about yourself

So I am going to list 7 simple pleasures of mine which I have been aprecciating recently.

* Lying on the grass looking up at the sky on a brilliant sunny autumn day. I love looking at the trees as they silloute with the sky.

* Riding home on the bus across the harbour bridge. I love the view, no matter if it is afternoon with a sunset or nightime with the opera house lit up. I feel so priveldged to see this view every day.

* Arriving at my beautiful field site. I love it when I am just arriving there and there is the endless ocean on one side (seriously an enormous area of horizon) and the beautiful blue ocean and rocks in the bay which is my site. Sometimes I just want to leap in for a swim but I can't!

* Having a bath with all the windows closed and no air thing going - I love the steaminess!


www.studiohousecards.com/MicheleWright.html

* Getting in to bed just after a hot bath and the feeling of the sheets on my skin

* Reading - anywhere!

* The pleasure of getting a phone call from someone you love!

Ok...to pass it on...most people will have already received this..but ah well.

Dar from Satisfy my soul
Nichol from Possible Thunderstorms
Mrs P from A study in contradictions
Pink Patent Mary Janes
Psych Babbler at Over cups of coffee

Since I have some awards I needed to give back...don't feel left out now because you might get one of those!!!

Teaser Tuesday 100511

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Two large glasses of decant claret in the middle of the day were not part of the Major's usual schedule. He had to admit that they imparted a rosy air to a luncheon that would otherwise have been stilted.

pg. 192

This book was quite enjoyable, easy to read and kind of sweet. It was good to be reminded of somethings. This book was also recommended for those who enjoyed The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Teaser tuesday 100504 and reflections

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The piper's son by Melina Marchetta

If you think I've forgotten anything about that night, you, most gorgeous girl, are labouring under a great misapprehension. I remember everything. I remember your petticoat...slip..whatever the hell it's called, and you let me take it off. You made me close my eyes and that was even more of a turn-on.

pg. 309.



I absolutely loved this book!!! The whole book is infused with a sadness. At first I was a bit nervous to read it as I really love most of M. Marchetta's books but once I started it was just great - just like her other books. So easy to read, so moving. I think "On the jellicoe road" is still my favourite though - but that is partly because it improves on reading. This book is ones of those you stay up late cause you don't want to put it down.

I also love how it is set in Sydney, though not in the supurbs/area where I live but I have visited this area many a time. It lends the book a kind of familarity, makes it easier to relate to. This book is maybe for an older age bracket then that which presides it (Saving Francessca - i also really like this book)and it is filled with characters my age.

The story rings so true. Though I have never experienced a level of grief or guilt like those in the book - how they react and deal with things feels true. I cried a lot during this book. Even on the bus when surrounded by a bunch of strangers.

This book is definently worth a return visit :)

postscript - i just read this and it makes the book sound really sad. but it actually isn't all that sad - there are heaps of parts where you just laugh and smile. It is just a moving experience and you can you read it on more than once level

My first post!

I have recently been tagged with heaps of thing recently so I am trying to catch up but I thought I would just do this one today! Jacintah from Live more now tagged me to repost my first ever post! THis is what you are meant to do..

What I want you to do is repost your very first blog post. I want to see how things are different now, if you write differently, if you write about the same topic, if you did a “hi this is why I’m blogging” sort of post or if you just got straight into it.

Then I want you to tag five people to do the same.

So here goes!

"Why limpets and penguins?" posted on 10th November 2009

Limpets are what I am studying. What are they? They are kind of like flattened snails which live down on the rocks at the beach. Most people think they don't move but they do...just very slowly. I personally think they are pretty cool. When something attacks them they clamp down and to cool down they mushroom up - lifting their shell off the ground. As this is my honours year I predict I am going to get pretty obssessed with them. Even start having crazy dreams!

Penguins? Well apart from the fact that they are pretty cute - especially baby emperer penguins - my boyfriend is shortly to depart for Antartica for a year - so they represent him. Just need to convince him to start his own blog. So expect to see lots of pictures of them :)

So this is going to be the year of Limpets and Penguins for me.

I don't think I write differently. After finishing my honours I think I am slightly more obsessed with limpets! I am even going to a world congress on molluscs in July! (yay...but will post more about that another time!) And I did have crazy dreams about them.

Anyway..five people...most of the people who follow me seem to have done this so hopefully no overlaps

Mrs P. from a study in contradictions
Nichol from Possible Thunderstorms (my boyfriends blog!)
Melissa from Sugar Coat It
Miss Carly from everyone want this
The Fat Chick

I have heaps of exciting purchases to show everyone so hopefully will get time to do that tomorrow...but tomorrow I am having a photoshoot! Yay!!!

My recent cooking attempts

In the past couple of days I have attempted to do some cooking.

On Sunday I was having some friends over for a picnic and I really wanted to show I was capable of cooking so I decided to bake a cake. Now, I have this recipe for the birthday cake my mum always made me every year so I thought I would give that a go. All seemed to go well at first - the mixture tasted right. But then...I put it in the oven. The recipe said medium oven for 35-40 minutes...and since I had no idea what temperature was medium I just selected around 150 degrees. The cake...did not rise. I used self raising flour by the way so it should have. And it seemed to take ages to bake. In the end my cake was 1 cm in height! It tasted great though and I ate 75% of the cake myself over 3 days!

As my boyfriend is in Antartica they don't have a lot of fresh produce, including yoghart. So they make their own yoghart using Easiyo. Since he liked the yoghart so much - and got really excited about it - he decided to buy me a easiyo youghart maker and lots of yoghart making supplies. SO finally on Monday night I made the yoghart. And so far it seems I have succedded. The yoghart tastes and looks like normal yoghart and last night I made some tzakiki dip using it. The dip is a bit stronger than I am used to but is tasty enough :)

So yay - I have kind of managed to succed in some cooking.

I hate my laptop!

My laptop has been having power problems again! I hate my laptop and its power problems. Have not been able to use it since last Tuesday (currently sneaking on to my mum's beautiful lap top). I will probably have to buy a whole new power supply thing - again! At the moment I am just trying to replace the faulty plug in my universal adaptor power thing but the stupid company is not getting back to me! Rant!

I will attempt to post tomorrow. I have so many posts stored up in my head - just need the energy and the motivation to do them!

For the past week I have been watching a hell of a lot of chick flicks but today I went in to uni as I am now bored of just resting! Yes - I am such a nerd - going to uni after I have handed in my honours thesis and asking for more!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Mr Rosenblum's List by Natasha Solomons

Sadie had never thought of a house as a living thing before - it was a thing, which one filled with other things, like furniture and books. Yet the walls were painted with limewash so that the stone could breath and at night the house did feel almost alive, with its creaking and the sounds of the stream, trickling, trickling.

pg. 79



So far I am finding the book really sweet. It was recommened to be liked by those who enjoyed "The Guensey Potato Peel and Literary Society" and as I enjoyed that I thought I would give it a try. And again, it is easy to read and an interesting story.

For those who read last week's teaser from Requim for a Wren - I finished that book. I really liked it and the ending was both sad and moving.

It is finished!!!

Today I handed in my honours thesis. All four bound copies of it. Am so over it by this point - but hello my free time (well...until I get a job). Unfortunately my celebration plans have to had be curtailed as yesterday I came down with a horrible flu type thing. Only 3 hours of sleep last as I was so clogged up :(

Sigh.

But I did reward myself with an icecream (it was very hot) and an hours worth of book shopping!

My plans are
- get a massage
- borrow some dvds
- sleep
- catch up with friends and family
- buy some much needed clothes!!

The easter show, arrivals in the post and a book review

Since it is sooo noisy at the moment in my building at uni (noisy renovations) I thought I would write a quick post :)

The easter show

On Sunday afternoon me and a few friends went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show. We had so much fun. Firstly we went to the big food dome and spent an hour tasting free samples and looking at the regional food displays! I love the dawn of agriculture one and some of the vegetables were enormous. I ended up buying some feta stuffed olives and marinated feta stuffed peppers - so tasty. We also bought some oysters to eat there - freshly prepared as a special treat.

Then we moved on to the arts and crafts section and looked at all the sewing and food competition entries. I love the sugar art stuff! So amazing. I once tried to do some but failed dismally.

By this time it was after five!!! So some of us went to look at the animals (I wanted to see the woodchopping but it was over). so we looked at the goats (some enormous and a bit scary), the pigs (which my friends adore) and lots of cows (which I like). Then we watched the final of the polo (nsw lost) and ate dinner whilst listening to some live music in this little area before heading home. Overall lots of fun!

Arrivals in the post

In the past week I have recieved two book parcels in the post! Yay! Both of these were birthday gifts from my brother

* Elegance of the hedgehog - i really want to read this book



* Shades of grey - after reading a teaser tuesday of this I thought I would give it a go.



I love the feel of new books - so much excitement and anticipation

Book review of The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls


I said I would let everyone know how I found this book so now I am! I said at first that it was hard to get into but it did improve slightly - though not too much. The book went somewhere completely different then where I expected it to go from the blurb and first part of it. And I found it didn't really go too far anywhere - like I got close to the end and I was suprised that I was near the end as it felt like nothing much had happened. Aside from this, the prose of the book was easy to read and not overly descriptive. I am not sure if I would recommened this to other people or try another book by the author but will consider further.

Anyone read anything great recently?

Teaser tuesday 100413

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Requim for a wren by Nevil Shute

There were no civilian boats or yachts afloat upon the south coast at that tume, but the river was full of landing craft, box-like, grey, painted things of steel with ramps to let down at the bow, with diesel engines thumping away inside them to charge batteries as they lay moored bow and stern to the buoys, with white ensigns drooping at the stern, with bored ratings fishing over the side and staring at us as we threaded our way past.

pg 69-70



I love how that sentence paints a picture so nicely. At first I struggled to get into this book but now I am really enjoying it. I have read "A town like Alice" by this author previously and really liked so I thought I would give another one of his a try. It is not the most "exciting" book but it is has a nice flow to it and it is interesting - showing a very different time realistically (or so I believe).

My absence

Sorry I havn't been round much this week! I have been busy writing up my honours thesis which is due on the 20th of April so am pretty worn out from so much typing, stress and lack of sleep. WIll try and post more tomorrow :)

Teaser Tuesday - 100406

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The True Story of Butterfish by Nick Earls

Kate Winter, custodian of the house of slamming doors and duelling stereos, ex-partner of the piano-owning man who was Annaliese's father.

I wanted my privacy.

pg. 31.



I finished reading The time traveller's wife for the second time (which i love!!!) this morning so I have only just started this book. So far it is ok - hopefully it will grow on me a bit more :)

My beautiful easter hamper

My boyfriend organised to have a box of easter treats sent to me for easter :) Very exciting. So instead of the normal foil wrapped eggs and bunnies I got these artisitc looking chocolate eggs. Aren't they beautiful. :)Also included - though you can't really see them are gold painted charamel filled easter eggs - I ate some of them today and they are delicious :)

Hot Cross Buns and Easter

Hot Cross Buns have to be my favourite part of easter. I can eat a pack a day they are so tasty. I also like the chocolate ones (the ones with chocolate chips instead of sultanas) but the normal one are still my favourite. Yesterday my mum made some fresh ones and I ate all eight of hem over the course of the evening!!! They were my dinner!

I love the smell
I love the hotness
I love peeling the cross off


http://z.about.com/d/britishfood/1/0/A/-/-/-/hotxbuns.jpg

What is your favourite thing about easter?

Yesterday I finished reading Too much happiness - which I really enjoyed as it made me think - and the last short story in it (it was not that short though - 60 pages) was really great. It was centred around a women mathematician and novel writer from the late 19th Century. As in - a real person.

But now on to something a bit more light hearted! I am finally round to reading The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger again! Yay!

I really enjoyed this book the first time I read it. Actually the first first time I read it (or part of it) was when I was handed one of those sampler books of the first chapter or so of it...and I thought "this sounds good" but I didn't read it for years later!!



It is so easy to read and a beautiful and very sweet story. Anyway - if you havn't read it I really recommend it :) (And i think it is better than her current book "Her fearful symmetry).

Four Things

I stole this off Corinne from A day in the life. Join in if you would like :)

Four jobs I've had:

Customer Service Representative in a call centre for Pizza Hut
Market Researcher over the phone (yes...calling people up and asking for their opinions)
Cleaner for a shop
Waitress in a German Restaurant (4 shifts)


Four movies I can watch over and over:

Never Been Kissed
Phantom of the Opera
Beauty and the Beast
Howl's Moving Castle

Four places I've lived:

I have always lived in Sydney...

Four TV Shows I love:

Seachange
North and South - it is a telemovie
Yes Minister/Primeminister
Eagle: A crime odyssey

Four places I've been to on holiday:

Northern Australia - The Kimberely's in Western Australia and the top end in the Northern Territory to be more exact
Tasmania
Germany
Czech Republic

Four of my favourite dishes:

Nachos
Mushroom Korma with Rice
My boyfriend's mussel and calamari soup
Calamari and Chips!

Four sites I visit daily:

Sydney Morning Herald
Hotmail
Facebook
Australian Antartic Division

Four places I would rather be right now:

Swimming in Manning Gorge, Western Australia
Reading a book camping at Myall Lakes
Lieing in a bath at home
Driving in a car(being a passenger) through Gregory National Park, Northern Territory

My recent book purchases

As promised..these are the books I purchased on Monday!!!

For Christmas I was given a $100 gift voucher from Angus and Robertson. My purchases were as follows

* THe lovely Bones by Alice Sebold- after so many good comments about this book i thought it was about time I read it :)



* I have a bed made of buttermilk pancakes by Jaclyn Moriarty - I absolutely love this book!! Read it so many times. It has quirky bits, is really easy to read and an interesting fun story.



* Dreaming of Amelia by Jaclyn Moriarty - This is a book aimed at a younger audience than the above. Most of the books Jaclyn Moriarty had written are aimed at the young adult market - the most well known being Feeling Sorry for Celia. And again..has quirky bits to it - accroding to the blurb the story is told through the gothic fiction elective of an HSC english exam (HSC is the set of exams you do in your final year of school in NSW, Australia). Looks like fun :)



* I also bought two Manga comics that I had read when in early high school and enjoyed. I was disappointed thouhg because they had reversed the comics so they read like normal engligh novels instead of the back to front nature of manga comics.

As Angus and Robertson did not have Elegance of the Hedgehog I decided to go find it in Borders which is ten times bigger. They had sold out :( :( :( so instead I bought

* The poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver - I bought this as I had really liked The Lacuna and had heard that this book is pretty good too :)



What does everyone think?

Teaser Tuesday - 300310

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

What I Know in Myself is my own Evil. THat is the secret of my comfort.

pg. 23 (Dimensions).



This book is a collection of short stories and the ones I have read so far are quite good. Most of them are easy to read and make you think. The stories are about complex people so that makes them interesting and none of them have the traditional "happy happy" style endings or anything like that. They are actually kind of unsettling in some ways. Definently not a book to read if you need a cheer up.

Off to the bookshop...;

I am off to the bookshop...which always excites me. My grandfather gave me a $100 gift voucher for christmas so I am off to spend that. Have some books already mind including

* Elegance of the hedgehog (or whatever it is called). I wasn't going to buy this book until I read a review and teaser tuesday of it which made it sound pretty good :)

* The lovely bones

* Shades of Grey - read an interesting teaser of it

Does anyone have any suggestions?? Or opinions of the above books (Yay vs nay?)

Tell me fellow bibliophiles!!!!

Lovesong by Alex Miller

I featured Lovesong by Alex Miller on my Teaser Tuesday post this week and i thought I would give a very quick review/opinion of the book.

The book was very easy to read - I finished it in a day - and I just wanted to keep reading it to find out what happened. It is an interesting story which makes you think about the choices we make and how things can go wrong in a relationship. Also about the nature of storytelling. In a way it is quite a concise book - doesn't waffle on for ages - which is good in this age of busyness. I plan on reading more by this author.

Has anyone else read this book? And if so what did you think?

My hands

At the moment it was not that easy to type. You see I have where my skin on my fingers and palms gets covered in tiny little blisters which get bigger and are sooo itchy and then painful and eventually the skin goes scaly and peels off. Very ugly..but at least not contagious.

I visited a doctor a month ago at uni and they gave me some cream...but it got worse so I went back to another doctor at uni and they just said "put more cream on" and I am like wahhh!! Clearly the cream is not working! So eventually last Thursday I went to my family Doctor and she was great. TOld me why she thought i had what I had (diagnosis wise) and wrote out a step by step plan of acton.

The most annoying thing it involves is putting special cream on the affected areas, wrapping them in wet/damp cotton wool and then wrapping them in gladwrap or putting vinyl glovs on top. SOOOOO difficult. And then at night my hands get so itchy and I cannot sleep.

I am seriously sick of this!! It makes it hard to type and the lack of sleep is getting to me! My thesis is due in less than a month so I am getting more stressed..which i think leads to my hands getting worse!!!

Sigh. I just want them to get better :(

Teaser Tuesday - 100323

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Lovesong by Alex Miller

Sabiha set the glasses down on the table in front of the couch. "I don't care. I hope he never comes back.;

pg. 56


I have only just started reading this book and so far I am finding it easy to read and fairly enjoyable. Will post an update when I have read more :)

Reflections inspired by "The Lacuna"

Some of you may remember that "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver featured in my Teaser Tuesday last tuesday. Well on the bus home today I finished reading it. It made me reflect on a number of issues.

Firstly - how unfair the world and the society is sometimes. The end of the book is set in post world war 2 America where the anti-communism view was taking off. It really frustrates me how biasist and cruel people can be and how bad the system can get. I really hate injustice. And how people just twist words - especially the media - just get to the answer they want. It must have been a frightening time to live in.

And following on from this - the media. This book illustrates how bad the media can be in terms of portraying the truth. Here is a quote I liked

" They had no wish to tell what a man has done with his life. That would require honest witness. THe simpler thing is to state what he has been called".

Grrr.

The problem is - how can you know what is true if you havn't experienced it first hand. If you don't rely on the media you could try relying on what aquaintances to tell you - and there problem with that is that either you get very limited information (if you just go by what they have experienced) or the information is even more inaccurate because of the whole chinese whisper affect.

Or you could just rely on nothing at all which is even worse - because I think knowing about the world is important and lack of knowledge breeds ignoranace and prejudice of other people and their situations.

I think sometimes i take what I read too much at face value

How much do you trust what you read/hear? How do you deal with this dilema?

Something which bothers me..

FOr the past four months at least I seem to get the same questions asked of me all the time...

How is Nichol?? (my boyfriend who is in Antartica for 13 months)

How are your finding it without him???

Now though these questions are asked with the best intentions - I find it very hard to answer them.

Firstly - it makes me feel that all I am defined by is my relationship with him - which is defintly not so. And though it might sound all sweet and all to say I think of him all the time - that isn't so. I am my own person and though I miss him terribly, it isn't like I am completely fallen apart (though sometimes I do feel like that).

Secondly, it is hard to explain how I truly feel about him being away. It is very complex and most of the time the context people ask me these questions is not appropriate for anything long.

Thirdly, I am asked both of these questions ALL THE TIME. By the same people.

Oh...and there is also the "so when does he get back?" question. And then I have to say 1st of December and then deal with their reaction to that. Sigh. Sometimes reality is very hard to deal with.

Now don't get me wrong - it is nice to be asked how I am coping...just i guess I want people to realise that it isn't easy for me to answer and it is hard if people are always asking.

I don't know how to tell some people that i would rather them not ask all the time and to explain why.

99 Things

I stole this off Mrs P who stole it off someone else.

The idea is...here is a list of 99 things you could have done. Copy, paste, bold the ones you have done, and post. Ta-da!

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to DisneyWorld

8. Climbed a mountain - more than one - Cradle Mountain in Tasmania definently a highlight to climb

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theatre

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Got a tattoo

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

WoW. That was fun! YOu should try it :)

I have done 37 of the item on the list :)

Teaser Tuesday 100316

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver

In the Kitchen the stores burn hotter than the stove. Perpetua says Senora Frida went up to San Miguel Regla yesteday, on the excuse that she needed to give some money to the Landeros family for taking Lev in their house.

pg. 179



I am really enjoying this book. It is set partly in Mexico and partly in the US and follow the life of a boy/man from the 1930s. It is written kind of a like a diary but better (and I love when books are written in a quirky manner). :)

Some advise please...

Next Saturday I have a photoshoot with SF Marler Photography (I won a discount for it :) yay!) and i am wondering how i should dress up for it. I want to do something a bit unusual but I don't know what.

I have had a photoshoot before - my friends gave me one as a present once - so I thought I would do something a bit different. But I don't know!



So I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions?

Teaser Tuesday - 100302

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The lost life by Steven Carroll

Instead of just undressing in front of each other, which they have never done, they would be bathing together. Bathing is good like that, gives you a reason, she thinks, as she tamps along just a bit behind.

pg. 4



I just started reading this book today and am just about finished it. It is easy to read and quite interesting. This is one of the books my mum gave me for Christmas and is signed by the author :). It is set in 1934 in England and tells the story of two sets of lovers.

Why is the world conspiring against me and my field work

Greetings everyone. So Sunday I had field work all planned to do. Get to my field site at 12 and hopefully leave by 6.30. I wake up and there is a tsunami warning to keep away from all coastal areas. I think "screw that" - I am going. I NEED to do this experiment (this is my second attempt at this particular experiment as the rain last time caused me to lose 75 percent of the labels I had glued to the rocks!!!). So after calming my mum and the friends i had roped in to help me and telling them that "No, the tsunami will not affect us" we headed off.

All seemed to be going well - though cloudier than I would have liked. No tsunami at all. The height of the water seemed the same as usual.

But then...thunder and lighting...literally. After the last area had been painted with paint stripper it started to rain!!!! I nearly cried with frustration. I needed the paint stripper to dry and go away before I could finish the last part of my experiment and with the rain there was no chance of that. So i tried as best I could to remove the remaining paint stripper but I fear (alas) that my experiment will be confounded (as in not work properly).


http://www.eontarionow.com/images/Rain.jpg

Second time in a fortnight!!!

On a good note - I have now written 34 pages (just of text) of my thesis. The limit for my honours thesis is 75 pages (not including figures, tables, graphs, references). So yay!!! Nearly half way there!!!!

Pettiskirt Princess - I want this skirt

Through my browing of fan pages on facebook I discovered Pettiskirt Princess. Originally they just sold kids skirts but now they also sell adults/teen sized skirts. And I really would love to have this skirt. Isn't it gorgeous!



Unfortunately can't justify spending $50 on a skirt at the moment as I have no job. Hurry up May!!!

Here is another cute one but currently they don't do this style in adult :(

My neice and nephew

As I am feeling pretty sick today and was working hard with uni stuff from 8.30 till about an hour ago I am not going to post much today - just some photos me and my boyfriend took in October of Kaia and Bo, my nephew and niece (well technically my boyfriend's...)

Teaser tuesday - 100223

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

•Grab your current read
•Open to a random page
•Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
•BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
•Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters

"This cannot hold", said he, and his fishy face fingers grew rigid, as they sometimes did when he became animated. "No, no, do not desire it; for when the romantic refinements of a young mind are obliged to give way, how frequently are they succedded by such opinions as are but too common, and too dangerous! I speak form experience."

pg. 60

I was slightly doubtful of how much I would enjoy this book at first but I have been pleasantly suprised. Once you get into it it isn't too bad at all :)

After honours

At the moment I am trying to sort out what to do after I finish honours in April. My current plan in terms of further study is to start my phd in 2011. My boyfriend returns to Australia begining of December this year so I don't want to be tied up with anything when he gets back. So that leaves me with around six months. Hypothetically I should get some sort of job - but what... Should I put in some effort and try and get a biology related job?

I really have a craving at the moment to go overseas. Maybe I could be an au pair? I can speak a bit of german - studied it for 4 years in high school. I can't think of any other jobs I could do overseas. I could also au pair in New Zealand which would be pretty cool. OR maybe work someone else in Australia - like up north (since I love it up there). I just feel that I need to get out of Sydney for a bit. Out of my comfort zone.

Has anyone got any suggestions or knowledge in this area???

Things which arrived in the post this week

Two beautiful books arrived in the post for me this week. And as you know I love recieiving post (well...when it is delivered and they don't lose it...see here).

First up miss carly sent me this beautiful notebook to record my exercise, food eating habits and weight loss etc :)



And secondly I won this absolutely gorgeous book held on Mrs P's blog - A study in Contradictions. It is full of photos of hearts in different forms.



Here is my favourite photo (well one of them). Note all the limpets and barnicles in the background!!!



Thanks so much miss carly and Mrs P.!!!