These days most posts are, you know, Friends Only. Comment to be kissed added. Or both *sleazy wink*.

VoicePost 457K 2:02

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ETA: There are no spoilers in the post.

Aww, I was so emo today. So tired from not sleeping properly all week and, I don't know, things just got to me. My mummy said I could have chicken for dinner (she was going out and we had to fend for ourselves) but I didn't get any and it made me sad so I had to cry. Literally. I was lying on the floor, all prostrate and distraught, with tears pouring down my face. I really wanted that chicken, gorramit! 

Overall, though, I have been enjoying the wonderfulness of life recently (yes, for about nineteen years now). 

I love the shining sun.
I love my dog.
I love my sister.
I love my friends. 
I love chocolate, chicken, cashews and cucumbers.
I love the boy, Giles, who sits in front of me in Linguistics with the curly bronze hair that the light bounces off, and the big blue eyes who I've never spoken to and probably will never get the courage to.

I love running as fast I can down the lane near my house.
I love people I haven't even met yet.
I love my future husband. 
I love Beatriz, with whom I have formed Team Mulder, ostensibly in honour of our Linguistics tutor, Jean Mulder, but really for a certain special agent with green eyes and pouty lips.  Team Mulder's aim is to call her "Mulder" as often as possible instead of  "Jean" without her actually noticing. It's similar to what Liv, Cress and I did in the winter of Year Ten when our French teacher, Miss Mel, kept wearing the most enormous puffy jacket ever, and we called her FatMel instead of Miss Mel, but said it so fast that she never realised. 

I love the REAL Mulder, and Scully, and David Duchovny, and Gillian Anderson, and Chris Carter, and The X-Files, and Chris for finally making me watch them (and just for being one of my favourite people in the world), and Jessie for inciting me into fangirlish ecstasies involving this fandom.

I love Monday mornings with Beau and Rachel when we just sit around and laugh at anything and everything.
I love Johnnie (a girl, not Johnny Depp... though I love him too), whom I have discovered is a kindred spirit. Together we're going to visit Austria to see the setting of The Sound of Music, and then we're going over to Prince Edward Island for Anne of Green Gables, and we're going to sing all the songs from the former, and perform all of Anne's dramatic scenes from the latter and laugh until we burst.
I love listening to Bang, Bang by Dizzy Gillespie for reasons that will be immediately obvious to some of you, and sadly unknown to the rest of you.

I love truly_bohemian for sending me a beautiful letter and increasing my Beatles paraphernalia (never will I have enough, trust me) and for being herself. 
I love the Crossing Jordan is back on tv.
I love typing until my fingers hurt. 
I love the smell of hot buttered toast. 
I love flowers.

But most of all, I love that I have the rest of my life to love everything else.

Ha... some photos of me and others. Just because. 

For those of you who haven't heard of Belle & Sebastian, your lives have been empty! But I'm not surprised, because they're not exactly mainstream (though at times they threaten it teasingly). They're quite well-known in the UK and have cult followings in basically every other country in the world, so they're nothing to sneeze at! Anyway, they've been my second favourite band of all time (losing only to The Beatles. Tough competition) for several years and they did two shows in Melbourne over the weekend, both of which I attend (of course). This post might be a bit long because it chronicles in detail my fangirlish stalking of the band and rapture at their presence in my homeland. 

Who are they? Well, in my new layout featuring some photos of them, they are (from left to right): Mick (trumpeter), Stevie [the one with the harmonica] (lead guitarist/occasional vocalist), Stuart [the one standing up] (lead singer/song writer), Bobby (bassist), Richard [the one with the pipe] (drummer), Chris (keyboardist) and Sarah (violinist/flautist/occasional vocalist).

Warning: you might want to skip the accounts of the concerts if you're not really that interested in Belle & Sebastian. The stalking part is fun, though!

OH MY GOD! I AM SO UPSET RIGHT NOW.

I can't remember the last time I cried so much. I am such an idiot. Oh God. Not even the thought of Belle & Sebastian tomorrow can cheer me up. I have reached new levels of stupidity. 

I have spent weeks and weeks on this Cinema Studies essay and I just found out it was due in two days ago. Fucking hell.  When you spend so much time on something, you don't want GORRAM STUPIDTY to ruin it. Ha, yes, I'm very upset about frickin' uni. Whatever.

Let me just go and stick my head in an oven.

Sorry if I've been a bit absent lately but I have exams next week and I decided now would be a good time to rewatch seven seasons of Friends... I mean, study for those exams! But not that I'm studying properly I'll spend all my time on lj with you guys. 

Hee, the BEST conversation took place at work the other day! 

Nicki (a woman I work with): Hey, we got a new scanner for scanning the barcodes of the books. I called it Josh, after your boyfriend. 
Me: Josh? As in Josh Lyman? From The West Wing?
Nicki: Yeah, that one! And the new printer is Toby, and that computer is Sam, that thing over there is Will.
Me: But you don't even watch it. 
Nicki: I know, but I did it for you! And those are some nice names, aren't they? Toby, Sam, Josh, Will...
Red-Haired Woman (member of the public on a computer about ten metres away): Excuse me, are you talking about The West Wing?
Me & Nicki: Yes.
Red-Haired Woman: I LOVE that show so much! [goes into rant on how it's the best show ever]
Me: Yeah, I totally agree.
Red-Haired Woman: I HATE what Channel Nine did to it. I want them wiped off the face of the planet! Good thing the ABC stepped up.
Woman In Pink Jacket (another member of the public browsing some books): Excuse me, are you talking about The West Wing?
Me, Nicki and Red-Haired Woman: Yes!
Woman In Pink Jacket: I love that show! I'm obsessed with it! 
[conversation ensues on how there are lots of us and there should be a club, before Bald Man tells us to be quiet because we can be heard all over the library.]

Ha, it was so hilarious! Nicki really did name all the new equipment after the men of The West Wing. Like, she labled those names on them for everyone to see, and that's what they get called. I work with a bunch of fangirls. Not that I'm complaining! 

Hmmm... even though I love randomly cool things like that, people are really annoying, aren't they? Like, SERIOUSLY. Sometimes I can stand ANY OF THEM.

Top Five Things People Do That I Hate:
1. Begin sentences with "you must admit..." NO. There's nothing I MUST admit to anyone. It just annoys me because they think they're right and you're going to have to agre with them and OH GOSH. When will people learn that I am always right? 
2. Crack their knuckles in public. This habit is DISGUSTING and makes me feel absolutely sick (like when there are bananas around). I just detest it. 
3. Yawn without covering their mouth in public. See above. I have no problem with not covering your mouth when you're alone or with your family or whatever, but on public transport? Thanks, but I don't want to see inside your mouth, or hear the unpleasant noises it makes while it's gaping open in a yawn.
4. Criticise America and everything it does/has done just because it's "cool". It particularly annoys me when grand statements like "All American TV is crap" are made. Why don't you try watching some - and while you're at it, take a look at Australian tv. That is the definition of crap. Yeah, just 'cause they've got a stupid president, that doesn't mean everyone in the country is worthless. The other day in Cinema Studies, a whole bunch of incomprehensibly "morally superior" and ignorant people were going on about how the Marshall Plan was just "America throwing money around and trying to be the best as usual". Um, except for the part when they were improving the life of millions of people, but whatever. 
5. Are insensitive to other people's feelings. You know, just making statements without thinking and not realising that they might be offending the people around them. An example? All those comments above about America being stupid and evil were made in the presence of an American exchange student. Losers.

Sorry, just had to rant. NEW HOUSE TONIGHT! YAY!

 AND I KNOW I'M, LIKE, TWO YEARS TOO LATE, BUT NSF THURMONT = OH. MY. GOD.

I was twelve years old and it was my first day of highschool. I was wearing brand new three-quarter length olive green pants (more like full-length pants that were a bit too short), an equally new red t-shirt (because wearing opposite colours was risky and artistic) and my hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail. Obviously, I was the height of stylishness. I had just semi-successfully navigated the pushing and shoving of the canteen and spent the first of many lunchtimes making awkward conversation with some other Year Sevens. Now I was waiting, unfashionably early, outside the Graphics classroom, clutching a huge, green pencil case and thinking about how excited I was to be getting braces the next week.

 Another girl, dressed in faded jeans, attractively ripped at the bottom, and a jumper saying University of Wisconsin, sidled up. I smiled at her nervously, wondering whether I should ask her what her favourite tv show was, and was it was Dawson’s Creek, by any chance? After a few moments of silence, she asked me,

“So, how are you enjoying your first day of highschool?”

“Yeah, it’s good!” I replied somewhat too enthusiastically. “I’m Amelia.”

“I’m Rose.” She said.

“Hey, that’s my middle name!” I told her with an altogether scary amount of eagerness. I could foresee an instant bond because of the shared name.

She smiled back hesitantly, a distinct look of fear in her eyes, evidently disturbed by my fervent answer.

There was no further contact for the rest of the week.  

And so there you have it - the very first meeting between me and rosiew all those years ago. Humble beginnings, perhaps, but nevertheless enough to make us, like, totally BFFs, as Veronica would say to Wallace (oh my GOD, I'm so obsessed with that show). Tonight, my Twinness is jetting off to exotic Kenya for two months and leaving me with nothing but my DVDs and... the rest of my life. I'm going to miss you, my sweet pea! Have an absolutely wonderful time, and I'll definitely eat more chocolate and watch more tv since you won't be able to enjoy these necessary pastimes. 

Well, back to important financial matters, I worked out the odds for my Oscars betting pool after seeing my final nominated performance, Felicty Huffman in TransAmerica (she was SO GOOD!). (If I've done something completely impossible with my odds in terms of the science of gambling, feel free to let me know!)

Obviously, the people with the smallest odds in each category are the ones I think will win, but the nominees that I've bolded are the ones I think should win. 

BEST ACTOR:
Philip Seymour Hoffman - 2:1
Joaquin Phoenix - 4:1
Heath Ledger - 6:1 (I also wouldn't mind if he won)
Matt Dillon - 15:1
David Straithairn - 20:1

BEST ACTRESS:
Reese Witherspoon - 3:1 (I kind of want her to win)
Felicty Huffman - 4:1
Charlize Theron - 12:1
Keira Knightley - 15:1
Judi Dench - 20:1

BEST PICTURE: 
Brokeback Mountain - 4:1
Crash - 6:1
Capote - 10:1
Munich - 20:1
Good Night, And Good Luck - 20:1

Those are the three cateogires open for betting (hee) but in the others, I'd like Ang Lee and Jake Gyllenhaal to win in their categories and Joyeux Noel to win for best Foreign Language film. Other than that, I'm not too fussed. 

Oh yeah, first week of Uni = exhausting. But it's nice to see lots of people again and also, I guess, to meet new ones.

This is not an update of much substance and I promise I'll catch up with everyone tomorrow (I had to unexpectedly go out tonight. Grrr.) but, yes, there are pretty pictures and those are always nice. My wrist - injured when I rescued my freak of a dog who likes to climb trees - is all better and I can type painlessly once again.

I stole this meme from t_i_n_u_v_i_e_l : make a list of 20 people you lust after. They can be male, female, fictional characters etc. My list is of 20 delicious males from the entertainment industry that I most certainly lust after. Just take it as a given that The Beatles would occupy the first four spots or whatever but I've left them off because, yeah, they're too obvious.

( My twenty lovely men )

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY (for yesterday) TO THE WONDERFUL nyc_iby ! I hope the day was just lovely (much like you are *suggestive wink*). For a belated birthday present, would you like me to arrange Josh and Donna's consummation for you? 'Cause I'd be happy to.

On that note, The West Wing has officially been cancelled which is sad but was inevitable so I'm okay with it. Or I will be, if Josh and Donna do, in fact, end up together. Okay, John Wells? Good.

Hee, for my seventh birthday, I had this candle which would play 'Happy Birthday' when it was lit (like a mobile phone kind of tone). Because it's been so hot recently, the candle keeps going off at all hours. You'll wake up in the middle of the night to the annoying strains of the gorram song. Don't ask me why we still have this candle after eleven plus years, but we do.

Oh my gosh, I went to see Brokeback Mountain on Thursday. Wow... what a killer. Absoultely fantastic movie, but seriously, it'll break your heart. And smash the pieces. Everything about it is so beautiful but what you remember most is just the pain, longing, regret... the absolute love and sorrow that just wash over this movie. It's been more than four days since I saw it, but I can't stop thinking about it, and everytime I do I just get sadder and sadder. To those who haven't seen, you absolutely should. I don't know, maybe there are still people out there with ridiculous feelings about homosexuality or whatever, but it's not even like that. It's a love-story, pure and simple. Nothing to do with gender or sexuality or politics. The acting is really, really good, too. Heath Ledger seems to be getting more praise than Jake Gyllenhaal, but they're both excellent. Gah, must change subject!

( look what syds_emily brought me back from The U.S. )

Hmm... something exciting and wonderful happened... what was it? I know there was something. Oh yeah, the Golden Globes and Hugh's fantastic triumph! Eeek, I'm still overwhelmed by my joy at his win. Ha, my mum was concerned that I was happier about it than my VCE results, but everyone knows that fangirlish joys outweigh all others. Or they do in my reality, at least. The awards overall were very good, in my opinion. Almost everyone I was going for won, with the exception of Zach Braff and that really annoys me. Hee, when Hugh's name was read out I screamed so loudly that I almost burst a blood vessel in my throat. Then there was the dance of joy. Heh, my mum and my sister went almost as crazy. It was a beautiful moment. We salute you, the Hollywood Foreign Press! (Enough time has passed so that I'm calm about it now, but seriously, for about twelve hours afterwards, I could barely sit still I was so ecstastic.)

( my wrap up of the night with lots of pretty pictures! Warning to dial-up users. )

Also, a BIG "welcome back" to one of my very favourite people in the entire world: syds_emily . I've missed you, my darling! Hope the U.S.A was good to you but not good enough so that you'll leave me again soon.

First, an apology of sorts: do you ever get to that point when you're on holidays when you kind of get sick of everything? The unthinkinkable has actually happened! I've grown sick of the computer. I think it might have something do with being on it non-stop (especially reading fanfic) for, like, two months straight. So to everyone on my flist (but particularly to thermy777 and katiegsr ) I'm really sorry for not commenting recently! I'm going to begin my catch-up tomorrow. I still love you all so much!

Gah... been so busy recently. Today especially. When to the State Library to get offers for uni courses and I got into Media & Communications at Melbourne so I'm pretty happy about that. Cinema Studies, here I come! Also got my Learner's Permit today - I'm only two and a half years behind everyone else. Hee, I've got a driving instructor called Angelo. Tasty. Driving is goign to be fun, I've decided.

Went to see The Shins the other week and they were SO GOOD! We were really close to the front (like, five metres away) and I had the best view of Dave (the bassist normally, but he played lead guitar) who looks very similar to Mark Ruffalo which was wonderful, because I love MR very mcuh. They played all the songs I wanted them to, and when they did New Slang... wow, everyone was singing along and it was just beautiful! They played the guitar solo on the piano though, but it worked really well. Live, their sound is much heavier but also cleaner, somehow. Not as distorted and much more "rock"-ish than usual. Hee, and Dave just randomly kissed Marty (keyboard player) on the cheek is the most gorgeous, loving way. Mmm, love boys who show affection to each other.

Eeek, tomorrow night is the Golden Globes! No-one spoil me, please! If you do, I'll be very angry and I might have to bring out the knife I keep specially for awards nights (though usually I turn it to myself when certain people don't win). I want Hugh to win so badly. I'll cry if he doesn't. Also, would love Felicity Huffman to win both her awards. Wouldn't that be wonderful? As for the movies, well the only one I've seen out the Best Picture category is Good Night, and Good Luck (because the others haven't been released yet) and I did not enjoy it at all. Very boring. If it wins, even more of my faith in award shows (not that I ever had much) will be lost for ever.

Time to go and eat. Love food.

Remember, don't anyone dare spoil me for the Golden Globes! I don't want to know anything at all.

This is incredibly late, but HAPPY 2006 to everyone! Hope it's going to be the best year of your lives. I hope every year is the best year of your life! Wouldn't that be a nice life? For me, 2005 was pretty good. I managed to achieve my three goals, which were 1. See 24 movies (two every month), 2. Go well on V.C.E., particularly English and 3. Something to do with seducing a certain boy which, yes, I achieved but... I'm not too sure how well that whole affair worked out. Eh, who cares? It's 2006: the year where you don't have to worry about what happened in 2005. Or something.

Yesterday I got to meet julester1 and cryptictac at the meet-up for the Melbourne branch  of aus_house   and it was so much fun! There were others there, but WHHEEE! It was so exciting to "put a face to the name" for those two who I've talked to so mcuh. July, you're less fangirlish in person, but still pretty much how I expected and Ticcy, you're JUST how you are on the internet. Plus you have the cutest daughter ever!

Well, I wrote another House fanfic for _vicodin  at santahouse_md  and GRRR it was gruelling but I finally got it done and I though I should share it. Just to prove that the House/Cameron 'ship still has some support in these dire times!

Title: Habits
Rating: PG
Pairing: House/Cameron
Spoilers: None.
Disclaimer: So not mine. I also don't own The Beatles, Eric Clapton, Pride & Prejudice or Sons and Lovers.
Dedication: As promised, to the lovely syds_emily , who is currently slumming it at a ski resort in Aspen where Johnny Depp is also staying. Poor thing!
Author's Note: So, so, SO many thanks to julester1  because, wow, she helped me A LOT. As did rosiew , my ball of twin (heh). I love you guys! I should also add that the story's very disjointed as a result of having been written over more than a month under great duress. Sorry!

( Habits )

I should also add, because I haven't updated since this happened, R.I.P. John Spencer. He was such a cool guy and a completely fantastic actor so I'm sure he'll be missed by everyone who knew him, not to mention the mere fans who didn't like myself.

Finished exams! It's such a wonderful feeling. Except for knowing that the results are coming in three weeks and they kind of determine if I get into Melbourne Uni or not which I really want. Oh well, nothing I can do about it now, is there? Going to Lorne (a beach) tomorrow for Schoolies which is going to be a smashing time, I'm sure. Will be back on Saturday, which, unfortunately, means I'll have to watch the last episode of House with a bunch of non-fans, except for syds_emily  and nyc_iby  and I'm not sure if everyone appreciates the strength of a fangirlish obsession.

Okay, so I work at a library and it's a really good library usually. Apart from lots of lovely books, we have many DVDs, like all of Buffy, The West Wing, Alias etc. and heaps of movies. Recently the council got a new manager whose name is Ed (important for later) and he's reeeeeeally crazy. He's all about cost-cutting and whatnot. He's not even the boss of the library, but he's started making all sorts of decisions about running it which is annoying because he kind of knows nothing about how the library works. For example, he thinks we shouldn't have books in other languages. What? The library's in one of the most multi-cultural parts of Melbourne and lots of Arabic, Greek, Italian etc. people depend on us for literature and magazines. A few weeks ago, one of the staff members died of a heart attack, but Ed thinks she shouldn't be replaced, but we'll see how well we can run without the extra staff member. Oh, and he's decided the fines for overdue books and stuff should be increased.

The most annoying thing for me is that he's got this idea that the library shouldn't buy anymore DVDs or videos of tv shows or movies that aren't based on books. WHAT? That's stupid! People go to the library because it's free and they want to get these things that they might not be able to afford at a video shop or whateve. Ergh... does Ed remind anyone else of, say, Edward Vogler? He just sees the library as a money-making machinge. Ugh. Perhaps my brain is just permantly with House though. I mean, that's certainly a possibility. Anyway, doesn't change the fact that he's crazy and I don't like him.

That was a bit of a rant. Wish I had something more interesting to say. But... I don't. Sorry. Er, I'm boring? Something like that.