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21st of December, 2008

12:51 pm - Garden Blitz This morning my Mother, Brother and Step-Dad came over and together we attacked the garden. Two lawn mowers, two petrol line trimmers and a hedge trimmer means everything except the tops of the hedge have been done. Just needed a higher ladder to get to the top of the hedge and trim the top off it. The many hands make light work adage is true. Current Mood: accomplished Tags: gardening, non-virtual life

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17th of November, 2008

08:10 pm - A productive day Managed to get quite a few domestic things done today. All library books returned 2 loads of washing done Back lawn mowed Tax query cleared up at C*nterlink (after waiting for an hour in the queue. Signed up with the local DVD library And I'm even contemplating removing some of the dustbunnies after dinner. My life is non-stop excitement let me tell you! Current Mood: weird Tags: gardening, non-virtual life

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18th of October, 2008

04:29 pm - HD update Well good news and bad news on the external Hard drive. The good news is that it is now being recognised by the computer and I've been able to run chkdsk and defrag on it. The bad news is that of the folders on it that I can now access, the "Music" one isn't among them. I'm wondering if copying the contents of the drive may make the files readable on another device. I think I should probably try and get a proper "internal" drive and put the music files on that rather than have them on a USB external. In theory I assume the internal would be a little more reliable. Right back to fighting the rainforest out the front. Current Mood: annoyed Tags: computer, gardening, geek, non-virtual life

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13th of August, 2008

05:04 pm - Domestic distractions Did sweet FA as far as reading today (my mind is a little overwhelmed with Greece at the moment anyway - between Ancient Mediterranean Cultures and Modern Day European troubles). Instead I finally managed to get the majority of the back yard mowed. Also cleaned the inside of my car, something that's been on my Roundtuit list since late last year. Just need to wash the outside to match. Also got a couple more boxes unpacked. At this rate I should be unpacked by Christmas :-) But as penance for no reading today I think I will be staying back till library close tomorrow night. Yay for late night library opening. Current Mood: accomplished Tags: car, gardening, non-virtual life, uni

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18th of November, 2006

09:14 pm - Sunburnt sore and in need of a shower Spent a rather productive day today helping out at a friend's working bee doing some do-it-yourself landscaping. Lots of clay was dug, lot of dirt moved and lots of shit talked. Stupid me forgot to put sunscreen on and am now a little tender on my right arm. First time I'm worn shorts in public in years :-) Time for a shower I think. Current Mood: Knackered Tags: gardening

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24th of September, 2006

02:26 pm - The ups and downs Yesterday was definitely a mixed bag. The morning went well. I went down to audition for Temptation and am now on their list. No idea whether it will be a fortnight or six months or what ever before I get a call but we'll see how it goes. Once home I spent about an hour on the phone talking to an American friend thanks to the wonders of Skype. It was wonderful to finally hear her voice. Got the lawn mowed before heading off to the airport to pickup Mum and her partner from their Queensland trip. Then headed down to dalekboy's for much gasbagging and farewells. On the way down Volvomort was making some very worrying noises and once I popped the bonnet it seemed the dipstick had popped and was leaking oil. On the way back I put some oil in and all sounded well until about Toorak and then there was very little power to get up hills and a knocking noise started in the engine. According to the RACV man who attended there's a possibility of a loose piston. It now become a decision of do I spend the money to get him fixed or is it time to have him laid to rest. Not that I can really afford to buy a replacement car either, especially at the moment. Sadly my catch up today with cold_echo has been put on hold. Current Mood: down Tags: car, gardening, non-virtual life, tv

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7th of September, 2006

01:12 pm - Weeding After yesterday's downpour I thought I'd try and get into the garden and pull some weeds out before they get a chance to get even bigger. I've discovered the local Tom has left his calling card and I've rediscovered a miniature rose :-) Bloody weeds! Current Mood: productive Tags: gardening

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4th of June, 2006

11:35 pm - Weekend stuff. Friday night was my first taste of roleplaying in many years. While I'm very unfamiliar with the d20 Modern rules it's been fun coming up with character ideas. Yesterday I attacked the very neglected lawn and have shortened it from it's previous calf-length status. Today was the Continuum Committee meeting after which I headed in to the Vic markets to try and replace a pair of gloves (no luck) and get a new belt (success), followed by a brief trip to Ikea to return an extra shelf I'd bought. Feeling very out of place at the moment. I feel an incredible urge to do something only I have no idea what that something is. Current Mood: odd Tags: continuum, gardening, non-virtual life

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26th of March, 2006

09:42 pm - A productive weekend While I didn't actually leave the house the whole weekend it was quite productive. The lawn had been mown, edges trimmed and the path swept. Some weeding has been done (though it needs some more work). Several load of washing done and hung out to dry. Dishes done. Carpets vacuumed. Paperwork filed and a little pile for shredding has been put aside. My trip to the doctors on Friday evening was good too. I'm off the cortisone and on to some other cream, and the rash is mostly stopped itching and is even healing a lot faster than it was before. So aside from the distinct lack of social activity (which is just as well seeing as I'm skint) it's been a very productive weekend. Current Mood: accomplished Tags: gardening, non-virtual life

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24th of March, 2006

03:24 pm - Gardening plans I haven't touched the lawn for over a month and it's looking exceedingly shaggy. Tomorrow I'm planning on getting the lawn done. I'll probably even drag out the whipper-snipper and do all the edging as well. The weeding has been given intermittent attention so is not a huge issue and I attacked the climbing rose and the jasmin(?) with the secateurs so that's reasonably under control. I don't think I'll start till about 6:30 or tomorrow though otherwise I'm going to pass out from the heat! Off to the Doc's tonight for more cortisone (or at least get it checked). Current Mood: blah Tags: gardening

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22nd of January, 2006

10:55 pm - Meltage I managed to survive the heat today mostly by heading down to cold_echo's parents and swimming in the pool. That and perving at the women's tennis. No gardening done as hoped for (or sewing for that matter) as it was pretty much too hot to do anything. Last night I ended up sleeping on the couch as I could set the fan up on the coffee table. Blah. Yesterday I headed out to Scienceworks with a few bods. We'd hoped to see the lightning show but due to the heat that had been cancelled. Got to see the Planetarium which was good. As we'd got there fairly late there wasn't much time left for looking at the rest of the thing once the Planetarium was over but it does seem more generated towards kids than adults. I realise the hands on thing is an attraction but when the adult is almost unable to bend down far enough to look at the 3-D bugs then it's gone too far the other way I think. T'was fun anyway. I finally got round to watching the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie last night and I quite enjoyed it. Martin Freeman did an impressive job as Arthur Dent and Sam Rockwell's Zaphod was the right amount of manic (though I wasn't very satisfied with how they did the two head thing). I did get a kick out of the various cameos that turned up through the story too. Anyway, time for som domestic chores. Current Mood: hot Tags: dvds, gardening, non-virtual life

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21st of November, 2005

10:00 am - Weekend update Saturday did Not-A-Lot. Saturday night caught up with cold_echo and a group of us went to see Corpse Bride. I liked it. I was very impressed with the "fabric flutter" and the movements of the puppets seemed more natural than previous stop-motion efforts I've seen. The story itself is rather shallow but the music is good. I'd have liked a longer movie but I enjoyed it just the same. Stayed and talked various things till nearly 3 by which time I thought I should head home. Didn't get to sleep in very late on Sunday as Mum and her partner came round to help attack the garden - "Front Yard Blitz"! Mowed, weeded, mulched and a few new plants put in. Ended up having a rather early night last night (for a change). Stay tuned for Birthday celebration details. Current Mood: Monday Tags: gardening, movies, reviews

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16th of October, 2005

03:25 pm - Mowing & weeding Well the front lawn in finally short again - a green wheelie bin and an orange garbage bag full of clippings later. Now I start with the weeds in the garden (and Dûrfin is helping by checking the roll factor of the bit that I have pulled the weeds out of. She's so helpful like that :-) Current Mood: accomplished Tags: gardening

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7th of October, 2005

04:16 pm - Lawn mowing You know it's been a while since you've mown your front lawn when the grass from just the front nature strip fills your green waste bin :-) Current Mood: accomplished Tags: gardening

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22nd of July, 2005

12:59 pm - Weekend plans At some stage I am supposed to be going to cold_echo's to swap DVDs and generally catch up. Though it wont be until after lunch because I really need a sleep in on Saturday :-) At some stage I should attack the lawn before the apple tree disappears under it. And vacuuming. Sunday I'm supposed to be catching up with Mum and my niece and nephews who are coming into town. Not sure what the plans are for that. Clothes washing. On which not I must look at replacing the loaned washing machine I've been using as it's owner is sending it to a new home. So I have to look at either repairing the existing one or getting a new/second hand one. Though repairs might cost almost as much as a new one depending on what's actually wrong with it :-/ Mmmm. Lunchtime. Current Mood: sleepy Tags: dvds, gardening

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28th of November, 2004

02:52 pm - Jobs for today Mow front lawn Get barbeque back Refill gas bottle Vacuum floors Dishes Laundry Put away clean clothes Current Mood: hot Tags: gardening

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27th of November, 2004

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23rd of October, 2004

04:05 pm - My garden Well the front garden now looks like an actual garden again. Mum came over and we filled three large orange garden bags of weeds and pruning. I discovered there's chives and italian parsley in the side garden bed. Also discovered two small rose bushes that I'd forgotten about. I need to get some mulch for ground cover. Might see if the Landlord is willing to pay for it (it IS their garden after all). Dûrfin has been chasing things round the garden and up trees and seems very disappointed that many of her hiding places have now been removed. Though of course she's still managing to find cobwebs under the house which she brings out with her ears and tail. Silly fuzzy. Time for a sit down and a drink I think. Mmmmm single malt. Current Mood: jubilant Tags: gardening

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18th of October, 2004

11:01 am - Gardens and Pooters After doing the gardening and finalising making back ups of the computer files I didn't end up feeling very sociable Saturday night and stayed home. My apologies to yllyan for not making it to her party. Sunday the grass got mown again and the GWB is overflowing (thanks to cold_echo giving the plum tree and additional prune). The Pooter ended up having to be reformatted which in itself proved more of a drama than I thought. The Win2000 disc I have turns out to be an "upgrade" rather than a new install disc. With someone forgetting to bring the Win98 disc my pooter briefly had Windows ME installed on it again before being dumped for 2000 again. All seems to be working again though the code for the anti-virus seems to be taking its time coming through. Now begins the tedious task of reinstalling those programmes that I want to have back on the system. I need a bigger hard-drive! Off to see Vanity Fair with missmargaret tonight. Current Mood: tired Tags: computer, gardening, geek

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16th of October, 2004

01:40 pm - Kitties are so helpful I've been attempting to get some more weeding done in the garden today. I think I've let it run wild for longer than I thought. I've nearly filled the GWB again and have only done one garden bed! Anyway I've cleared a section of weeds and tried to leave those plants that have survived being choked by weeds in place. In one place that I had replanted the stuff that came up with the root system I turned round to notice Dûrfin digging over the dirt after depositing some new fertilizer :-/ And she's been quite enjoying all the little bugs that have been unearthed during the weeding. Current Mood: dirty Tags: gardening

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10th of October, 2004

06:36 pm - Gardening Part Two The front nature strip was completed and squashed into the green waste bin (GWB). It is now solid and weighs quite a bit. The veranda garden was weeded only to find that no more room could be made in the GWB and had the weeds put in the actual wheelie bin. I know I shouldn't but I did anyway. Decided to leave the reat of the weeding until next week to enable the GWB to be emptied thus providing more disposal space (I'm going to need it). Dave came round for a visit and had originally inteded to borrow the Whipper-Snipper (I thought "Electric Scythe" would be a cool name for them. Death's new toy) but was too knackered to do any gardening himself. He's coming back Tuesday night to borrow it. I'm off to have a shower and then venturing out to do some grocery shopping. Current Mood: exhausted Tags: gardening

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01:22 pm - Gardening Well the front lawn is done. All raked and put into the green waste bin (which of course is now full). Time for some lunch before attempting the nature strip. May end up leaving weeding the garden until next weekend when I've been offered help. We'll see. Current Mood: hot Tags: gardening

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6th of October, 2004

10:22 pm - Weekend plans Sunday is supposed to be a nice day so I'm planning on having a Gardening Party. Yup after noticing that I have a milk thistle that's probably about 30cm above the fence I thought it might be a good time to get stuck into the garden. Though it will probably be a party for one anyone who feels like helping out is more than welcome. And Melbourne weather is living up to its reputation - after bucketing down about 10 minutes ago the sun is now out. Sword training tonight with thebaronmk1 Dinner tomorrow night with scatterbeetle And probably some Garage Sale-ness tomorrow at thebaronmk1's and missmargaret's. Might even bring along some boxes of my own to get rid of. Current Mood: energetic Tags: gardening

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27th of August, 2004

02:20 pm - Upcoming weekend Had lunch today with orethule and Kira, whom I discovered work in the next building from me. Tonight I am catching up with cold_echo. Probably something involving alcohol and movies. Tomorrow I intend to attack the garden again (the bloody lawn just keeps growing!) before heading down to my friend Rallas' for some geekery and dinner. He hasn't heard of Firefly before so it will be interesting to see what he thinks of it. Also have a copy of The Gamers which is sad but so funny at the same time. Sunday I'm having my photo taken and then going round to pick up some gear to take with me to Taminick. I still need to get some more stuff finished before October. Must make a list. Current Mood: bouncy Tags: firefly, gardening, movies, re-enacting

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2nd of May, 2004

11:55 am - A Good weekend Spent Saturday driving round Melbourne helping cold_echo look for flats. There were some scary places (like one in Richmond that I wouldn't leave a dog in) to others that were quite large but needed some elbow grease. After that I went round to pink_kan's to use her sewing machine in making the undertunic for my early Norman/Romanesque outfit. Got most of it finished though I discovered that the fabric I had purchased wasn't quite as wide as I had thought so a insert was put into the sleeve. It now has a nice black band around the elbow area. It actually looks a little fancy. Interesting what happens when you fix your mistakes. Sunday was back to pink_kan's to finish the tunic. I had offered to assist in helping to install a new lock on her front door to a brought along my power drill as well. What I assumed would take about 30 minutes ended up taking about 3.5 hours with four trips to the hardware shop! Shitty f&#king screws! Though on the plus side I now have a hack-saw and some decent blades. I didn't make much of the tunic so pink_kan was kind enough to make it for me. Round to missmargaret & thebaronmk1's for dinner with some friends I haven't seen in ages. Off to Leffler's tomorrow to look for some belt leather and investigate their buckles and clips. Current Mood: accomplished Tags: costuming, gardening

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3rd of January, 2004

08:31 pm - House keeping. Last night I sat down to a couple of DVDs with pink_kan. Finally saw Russian Ark which was absolutely amazing. 90 mins as one continuous shot, moving from room to room, century to century. It will definately require repeat viewing I think. Also saw A Guy Thing which was fun. Today I helped pink_kan have a look at some prospective rental properties. Nothing of interest there. Later cold_echo came over to watch some more Firefly and have dinner. I also managed to mow the lawns this evening. First time ever using a "flymo". I think in general it would probably work better if the grass wasn't as long :-) Still after a quick whipper-snip to trim the edges it looks rather more presentable than it did today. Very stuffed though. Time for a shower and then head out for a drink! Current Mood: exhausted Tags: dvds, firefly, gardening, non-virtual life

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1st of November, 2003

02:50 am - A good day. Had a good day today. Did a bit more packing. Paid some bills. Went into a couple of second hand shops looking at wardrobes - which turned out to be cheaper than I anticipated. Did some shopping for "work clothes" (some new shirts and a belt). Wondered what all the screaming schoolgirls were lined up outside of HMV for (only to find two of the judges from Australian Idol were signed a new album or something. Had stir-fry for dinner. Had an irritated cold_echo arrive to drop off my mum's hedgetrimmer and my car rego bill. Went off to see the Victorian Gothic fashion show at the Brunswick Hotel wearing my Hallowe'en pumkin waistcoat and caught up with lots of friends. Time for bed. Current Mood: sleepy Tags: gardening, non-virtual life

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4th of November, 2002

12:35 am - Busy Weekend Saturday smonster and I went down to Bunnings and bought some plants and bits in preparation for Sunday. Headed off to purples' birthday party. smonster and I had already planned on going to a friend's Halloween party that night but as it was just around the corner I said we would drop into the birthday first. Arrived wearing half the costume for the next party (high boots pants and t-shirt) only to realise that it was a *significant* event. Catering and the string quartet sort of gave it away :-) So I felt decidedly underdressed and a little embarrased! I've twisted her arm into catching up for lunch sometime soon though. The costume party was quite fun and caught up with some friends from South Australia who I haven't seen for ages. Had a long catch up with Katrine as to what had been happening over the last 2 or so years. I think something will have to be done about George's taste in music though. I mean if he was a twelve year old girl I could understand it but I was getting sick of Britney. At least they weren't playing Spice Girls all night! Sunday Mum & Chris came over to help get the garden into some shape. We cut back a few trees, pruned others, planted some nice flowers and discovered a set of steps in the garden buried under weeds and overhang! Did another trip to Bunnings to get some mulch and more potting mix as well as a couple more plants for the front porch. Managed to get myself a brazier for $10! Yay me! Thankfully no broken nails but lots of scratches though. going to hit the sticky weed with Roundup today. Die bastards! Watched my newly arrived copy of Wizards with smonster. It hasn't aged well in some places (notably the music) but there's still some genuine laughs - even from those who've never seen it before :-) Current Mood: exhausted Tags: costuming, dvds, gardening, socialising

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3rd of August, 2002

01:20 pm - Last Abyss at the Hi-Fi Bar The last Abyss at the Hi-Fi bar. Absolute fabbo. Last night was great fun. Caught up with heaps of people, danced, drank and came home nearly unable to talk. I'd gone round to missmargaret's before hand just about scaring the crap out of her in the process (people will leave their front door unlocked). So her, Andreas, Daniel, Amanda and I headed off to Abyss and went from there. Staggered in at about 5 this morning. Out to dinner tonight with a whole bunch of other friends. Should be good. Pizza and good conversation. At some stage this weekend I'll put up the new photos on the website of costuming things. But right now I should get out and do some whipper-snipping before it starts raining. Current Mood: calm Tags: clubbing, gardening, socialising

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