Well, 2011 has started with a bang hasn’t it? Cyclones, flooding, fires and earthquakes. Jesus-H-tap-dancing-Christ, enough already. I can only pray that those who need help, get it. My life, thankfully, has been significantly better than many of my compatriots in other parts of Australia and in New Zealand.

Since October I have lost 10kg and that includes the 1.5kg I gained and had to lose again over the Christmas period. That’s 1/3 of my ultimate goal! I have officially broken the 90kg barrier, I am so impressed with myself I can barely stand it!

I am about to book my first trip to Europe for April/May 2012. I will be going to London, Paris, Stockholm and St Petersburg over 30 days.

I am on track to pay off my car loan by the end of the year and then borrow from my parents for this trip. It will take me about a year to repay them but by the beginning of 2013 I will be debt free, no credit cards or personal loans.

My uncle (husband of my mother’s sister) gave us all a surprise on Australia Day (26 Jan) when he announced that he had been awarded the Member of the Order of Australia (military division) for services to his country in his position in the Australian Air Force. Air Commodore Andrew Dowse PhD AM. We were stunned and thrilled! How awesome is that?!?

I am filling in the time waiting for new Sherlock and Dr Who by watching Justified and Hawaii 5-0 (along with Supernatural of course). Hawaii 5-0 is filling the place where the McShep used to be,. Steve McGarrett is John Sheppard all over again, I keep waiting for him to say “’Operation: This Will Most Likely End Badly’, is a go".

I would, however, like to see character growth for Steve over a season or two regarding police procedure. Not that his way doesn’t make awesome TV, but think of the angst potential of seeing crooks go free!  Because let’s face it, the ‘full immunity and means’ from the Governor does not extend to the justice system cutting them any slack. Prosecutors must want to take out a hit on Steve for the difficulty he causes them.

IMHO he still operates on a war footing and hasn’t really come to grips with being a PEACE OFFICER. Police officers are peace time, civilian law enforcers Steven! Not Spec Ops guerrilla fighters who have to get the job done or die in the attempt regardless of collateral damage and cost to infrastructure. Save the special skills for the zombie apocalypse and tone it down a notch or five. I swear, that man is going to give himself a heart attack purely from being at Defcon One ALL THE TIME. Hyper vigilant much?

Anyway, I love that show. Hawaii looks divine and I don’t even like tropical destinations much. Beach is good, humidity is bad. It would take a Lotto win to get there, but I think I would like to go one day.

Catch you on the flip side!

Tags: all about me, tv boyfriends
Current Location: home
Current Mood: hot
Current Music: air conditioner blasting

...and everyone else who needs to know what the underside of Tom Hardy's left arm looks like.

( Tom has some lovely tats, y/y? )

Tags: pics, tom hardy, tv boyfriends
Current Location: home
Current Mood: hot
Current Music: on the way up - elisa fiorillo

I had both a good day and a bad one. There was an issue at work and I was upset at the way it was handled when it came up a few days ago. I spent all morning feeling sick and shaky trying to get up the courage to vocalise my unease. Last year I would have swallowed my mortification and bitterness and just pretended everything was fine at the same time as viciously reminding myself that my low self esteem could actually be lack of skill. I hate confrontation (and that's an understatement) and I would believe that obviously I was the problem and it was best not to push the issue.
Today I very calmly and professionally sat down with my line manager and said my piece. That's a huge step for me! Then we worked out that I was blowing some issues up in my mind that weren't reflected in reality and they had misunderstood or misinterpreted some of my actions. Everyone involved had (separate) adult discussions about their particular issue and the air was cleared. I was very pleased with all involved and thanked them all at the times we spoke for clearing things up and not letting misunderstandings poison the work atmosphere.
GO ME!!

On a happier note - I saw Inception on friday night and I have to drag my Dad to see it, too. He'd love it. I loved it. So original!

Lastly, separated at birth?

Tags: all about me, tv boyfriends
Current Location: home
Current Mood: accomplished
Current Music: She's a Lady - Tom Jones

Hello people!
I'm a little stunned and a bit embarrassed that I haven't made an entry for EIGHT MONTHS, especially since I seem to spend every waking minute online (enough to get a verbal warning at work - how cringe worthy!).

Oh well, time flies huh?

Aside from being busy at the job in fits and starts, I have been doing some kinda-spring cleaning. I've chopped down some overhanging tree limbs and gotten rid of those from the yard and now I am editing my possessions and re-organising my entire house.

This is happening in fits and starts as well. I pulled out all the stuff in the kitchen cupboards and pantry shelves, then there was a gap where I cooked out of cardboard boxes. Finally, I cleaned out the shelves, tossed or gave away what I didn't want or use and put everything else back in a slightly more logical order. Simple, yes? Next was the laundry cupboard, then the linen cupboard and also my bathroom cabinets. The current project is giving away random pieces of old unwanted furniture and to to that I am playing a chess game with myself as I move furniture from room to room.

You know that saying 'tidy desk, tidy mind'? I guess 'organised space, organised haitchem'? Wishful thinking I believe. Still, there are worse hobbies.

In the last eight months I have continued to lust after Alex Skarsgard in True Blood but have cheated on him with Gaspard Ulliel (french actor, look him up on imdb - YUMMO)


Regarding TV I have been totally seduced by the modern update of Sherlock by the BBC. The first section of the first episode 'A Study In Pink' had me marveling at how the writers on House MD basically lifted the characters House (Holmes) and Wilson (Watson) direct from Conan Doyle. Then I immediately forgot about that and instantly became sympathetic to the John Watson as portrayed by Martin Freeman. I was cheering on his bemused but capable actions through out the story.

It may be good to note here that I have a competence kink a mile wide. Benton Fraser twigged it, so does Brad Colbert in Generation Kill and now John Watson in Sherlock also joins that list. The shot he took through the window and his non reaction afterward would have tipped me over into full obsession if I hadn't already melted into a puddle of goo after his first meeting with Mycroft. Just that brief expression of amusement that barely covered the emotionless, calculated certainty that if Mycroft tried to push the issue, John would have to do something that he really wouldn't regret later.

Now, Sherlock Holmes - early thirties, pale, slender and a bit if a toff. Self proclaimed high functioning sociopath, childish egotist, a martyr to his own endlessly churning mind. His merciless sniping with the peripheral characters like Anderson and Donovan makes me choke with laughter. What is so interesting to me about this character is that I find him both fascinating and repulsive and desirable and adorable and irritating...I could go on!

That's what is really sucking me in, Sherlock's flaws. And his sarcasm. And his twitchy boredom complete with pouting tantrums. One minute he's a grown man with a working knowledge of 'adult themes' that he pulls out when he's faking humanity, and the next he's a petulant eight year old who is soooo bored and convinced the world owes him amusement.

I can't decide if his rudeness is him knowing what is the wrong thing to say, not giving a shit and therefore deliberately and consciously being rude. Or not having the edit button we all learned while still aged in single digits, in which case his rudeness is a lack of familiarity with the social rules due to not caring about anything that doesn't immediately benefit him.

Basically  it comes down to this for me; does he know the 'rules' and ignore them or manipulates them (sociopathy?) or is he actually closer to the Asperger's traits of social awkwardness? Either way, he's definitely a Narcissist. Magnificent bastard. His saving grace is his rapport with John Watson, those two are magic together.

Aside from Sherlock, Lestrade is a delight and I adore the actor who plays him. Rupert Graves, gorgeous gravelly voice, looks like he's constantly craving a cigarette and suppressing the urge to smack Sherlock over the head in the same manner of Gibbs in NCIS. Mycroft is a deliciously creepy upper class kingmaker, a bit like the power behind the throne style of Sir Humphrey Appleby from 'Yes, Minister'. Mycroft's creepiness stems from the idea that he is just as sociopathic as his younger brother but expresses it as a lust for true power, not the desire to be right and to find out that Sherlock can't stop pursuing.

It has cheered me to no end that the BBC has just announced a second season. Perhaps a longer run than three episodes? I can't wait!

Tags: alexander skarsgård, all about me, sherlock, true blood, tv boyfriends
Current Location: couch
Current Mood: embarrassed
Current Music: Baila Morena - Zucchero

I have been inspired by yagkyas  and my last post.



( Seasonal crazy ahoy! )

Tags: generation kill, my fic
Current Location: home
Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Christmas Bob - Bucko & Champs

ARGHHHH, I just hit the wrong key and lost a whole post before I could finish it! *tears hair*

I'm going to throw this post out of a moving vehicle at high speeds, try not to injure yourselves.

1. I cracked a molar last week, quite badly. My dentist is awesome and it didn't cost me any major organs to get the filling (my first!!) but If my decay and nightly teeth grinding could have joined together to snap half a tooth off down almost to the nerve, couldn't they have waited until my reactivated private health insurance had finished its waiting period (and why couldn't that stupid premonition happen earlier?!). Anyway, all's well that ends well.

2. Alex Skarsgard is a hotass. 'nuff said. Does Santa take bribes? I'll trade several useful members of my family for a Viking under my tree on the 25th.

3. Work is good. We moved offices FINALLY and I quite like them. It is much more relaxing now I don't have people walking behind my desk all the time.

4. Life is good and I'm grateful. I could, however, take a slight change in the hot muggy weather we have at the moment due to a tropical cyclone up north.

5. Christmas! Holy shit that has snuck up on us hasn't it? Is Santa a Recon Marine? because that was pretty fucking ninja (OK, now I want a story where Brad is Santa and Ray is his Elf). I'm all set having had an easy list of stuff to buy this year, plus I got a $100 Amazon voucher from my parents last week so I could place my order and have it arrive around Christmas. I have been hanging around my post box so much I think the postman thinks I am stalking him.

Alright, the drive by is completed so now I will peel away in a cloud of burning rubber and try not to get caught by the cops for speeding since it's currently Double Demerits over the holiday season.

Byeeeee!

Tags: alexander skarsgård, all about me
Current Location: home
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Barry the Elf - Bucko & Champs

tevere  has just posted a generation kill AU set during the East Timor independence upheaval in 1999 - see summary below


Summary: When Peace Corps assigns Nate to East Timor, a tiny half-island in eastern Indonesia, he figures he'll have a lot of time to catch up on his reading. But the year is 1999, and the shock fall of military dictator Suharto is still reverberating throughout the country, triggering changes nobody ever thought possible. As East Timor moves inexorably towards freedom – or war – Nate is drawn into events that will define the future of the province forever.


I cannot recommend this story enough. I'm just going to cut and paste my comment to her as I am still reeling a little and I want to read it again RIGHT NOW!

( Cut for mild story spoilers in my comment )

Go. Read.

Tags: all about me, fic rec, generation kill
Current Location: home
Current Mood: surprised
Current Music: snoring dogs

Alexander Skarsgård - the sheer hotness of this swedish actor (generation kill, true blood) has changed my attitudes towards blonde men forever.

Make me your Viking Queen darling, you know you want to. Yum.

(  Om jag kunde skulle jag äta dig levande )

Tags: alexander skarsgård, tv boyfriends
Current Location: home
Current Mood: flirty
Current Music: true blood S2 E07

I just posted this for the star_trek_flashfic  Family Challenge

Tags: kirk spock et al, my fic
Current Location: work (shh, dont tell anyone)
Current Mood: good

June??? What the ever loving fuck?? How is it JUNE?

In other news, the swine flu may not be making much impact where I am but whatever misbegotten form of the flu that has been endlessly circulating through my co-workers needs to end now. I'm just getting over my second bout and it was as pleasant as the last one. Bloody hell.

David Eddings died :( I adored the Belgarion, Malloreon, Elenium and Tamuli series. They made being thirteen and fourteen bearable. God bless, David.

My sister/housemate R has left for her 5 weeks holiday though Europe and landed in Venice the other day. I'm so pleased she's doing this, she's needed a break and a personal journey type experience for a while. I have to say I was thanking God that she hadn't gone to South America once I heard about the Air France flight going down. That is just horrendous, those poor families, it just breaks my heart.

I was trying to think the other day how is it that so many women I know get such a charge from things as simple as clean windows or a restacked pantry? I am still buzzing from the high of steam cleaning the tile grout in the main house. It has come up amazingly and I randomly stand and admire it at weird times. I really should have taken a before and after photo! Then I think that I'm being really odd and make myself go do something else.

PUPPY!! My parents have just gotten a second Papillion male. He is 11 weeks and his name is Barney. His older 'brother' Georgie who is 2 years old is still not convinced that this is a good thing. He's not aggressive but he's definitely a bit anxious about the change. Still, Barney is adorable...puppies make everything better!

( cut in case someone hasn't seen Star Trek yet )

Hmm, nothing else to report. I still haven't won the lotto. Situation normal.

Tags: all about me, kirk spock et al, star trek
Current Location: work (shh, dont tell anyone)
Current Mood: busy
Current Music: Chain Reaction - Diana Ross