Searching for Daryl

For any of those with Site Meter on their blogs, having the occasional review of how people have got to their blogs can be amusing, especially when they've found your blog through a search. I just found that someone got to my blog through a search for "Daryl Hannah and horses". Just don't think about it...

Family visit

Oh, I'm excited! I have my sister, Jen and her partner and kids coming to stay over Easter. Of course, being the stupid perfectionist that I am means I will have to clean the house from top to bottom. I started clearing stuff out of my son's room this morning, mainly a huge stack of dishes that he somehow manages to squirrel away in there. I found a dinner plate from two nights ago and various glasses and cups. On my way down the stairs with these I manage to trip near the bottom and let the lot fly - shattered glass everywhere, but fortunately I didn't end up colliding with it all - I managed to fall backwards rather than forwards. I guess I was pretty lucky, but that didn't make clearing the lot up much fun at all.

Productive day

Just to carry on my recent obsession with domesticity, I have been getting busy in the newly created vege patch and now have cauliflower, brocolli and cabbage plants settling into the soil. I felt ever so virtuous after that. Now I just have to stop the dog from trampling them. I can see that this is going to be an ongoing battle. Oh, and fighting the weeds of course. But it'll all be worth it when we get to eat the end result.

It was the end of daylight saving today. Another summer over.

Just one more, then it's off to bed.

I must stop this insanity! This is the last quiz. I'll be seeing multiple choice tick boxes in my sleep.

You scored as Hinduism. Your views are most similar to those of... Hinduism! Do some research on Hinduism and possibly consider becoming Hindu, if you aren't already. Hinduism 83% Buddhism 79% agnosticism 71% Christianity 54% Paganism 42% Islam 38% Satanism 38% atheism 17% Judaism 13% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com

MP3s on Blogs

The MP3Blogs Aggregator. A handy RSS feed aggregator of blogs harbouring MP3 files - a treasure trove of audio files - updated every hour.

Everything Reviewed

... and the night wears on. Still bloody blogging.

Listening to: Merzbow, Amlux

I just found this blog and I rather like it.

It gets worse

What Classic Movie Are You?
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I'm not this nice.

There's something wrong with these fucking tests. I mean, really! I'm just not that nice!

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

Pavlova (just like my mother used to make)

I have been going through a Pavlova Renaissance. My mum used to make these for "occasions" - birthdays (we got to request the dessert we wanted, and we mostly opted for the good old pav) and of course Christmas. I think at Christmas there was the usual trifle as well, but Nana poured half a bloody bottle of sherry in there and it was a bit strong for the kids. Anyway, I have now made pavlova two weekends in a row. I now have 12 egg yolks in the fridge and need to now think of something to do with them besides feeding them to the dog (canine coronary material, I would think). My pavs have both been perfection. It all comes down to the recipe I reckon, and I have my mum's recipe - it always works. Oh, and your oven. Gas just doesn't do it.

Here's the recipe, if you're game to try. Really, it's very easy, but you'll probably need an electric beater or cake mixer.

Pavlova
Ingredients:
4 large or 5 small egg whites
2 tablespoons of cold water
2 teaspoons of vinegar
vanilla essence

Beat all of the above till stiff peaks form.

Next, fold together 2 teaspoons of cornflour with 2 cups of white sugar.

Slowly add this mixture to the egg whites while beating all the time.

Now pile this mixture onto an oven tray in and using a spatula shape into a circular mound (approx 25cm in diameter).

Cook in a preheated low oven (125 degrees centrigrade) for one hour. The outside should be crunchy and the inside marshmallowy and light.

When cool, spread liberally with whipped cream. Typically, New Zealanders will top with slice kiwifruit. I prefer a crumbled Flake or chocolate chips.

Pavlova and beer

Listening to: Boards of Canada, Geogaddi

Last Saturday night was SOD's 35th. We celebrated it at my place with friends. Beer, wine, pizza (home made naturally), and various other food stuffs were consumed. Dave received a nice bottle of single malt whiskey which was almost polished off by the end of the night. Oh, and there was pavlova too, but more on that later (or earlier, depending on the order you read these postings). This is after the whiskey drinking.

Pointless and Absurd

Woohoo! On Monday, SOD's exhibition at 91 Aro Street Gallery opened. We drank wine. We ate food. We stood around on the street outside the gallery smoking cigarettes and talking about pointless and absurd things, just to keep to the theme of the evening. No, really. I never usually talk about pointless and absurd things. Skeleton Guy looked excellent en masse, lining the white walls of the gallery with his bony grinning presence. We followed with dinner a cheapo Malaysian Curry House and then on for some celebratory beers, of course. A night is never complete if you don't get to swill some beer. Or so it seems. Here's Dave hanging out with the SGs.

Is this me?

Just took one of those personality tests. Am I really that much of a perfectionist? How scary. Other than that, I look kinda dull. Nothing weird here.

Cattell's 16 Factor Test Results Warmth ||||||||||||||||||||| 62% Intellect |||||||||||||||||| 54% Emotional Stability ||||||||||||||| 46% Aggressiveness |||||||||||||||||| 54% Liveliness ||||||||||||||| 42% Dutifulness ||||||||| 30% Social Assertiveness ||||||||||||||||||||| 62% Sensitivity |||||||||||||||||| 54% Paranoia |||||||||||| 34% Abstractness ||||||||||||||| 42% Introversion ||||||||| 30% Anxiety ||||||||||||||| 42% Openmindedness |||||||||||||||||| 54% Independence ||||||||| 26% Perfectionism |||||||||||||||||||||||| 74% Tension ||||||||||||||| 46%

Take Cattell 16 Factor Test (similar to 16pf)
personality tests by similarminds.com

Busy old day

Listening to: Can, Tago Mago

Drinking: Whiskey, neat.

Just been to see a play tonight. I do some design work for Circa Theatre, so I get comps for whatever play I've done promo work for. I find most of the plays a bit dry, Their target market is considerably older than me though, so it's not surprising. I enjoy getting out to a play though, and hey, it's free! The play I went to tonight was "An Inspector Calls" - J.B. Priestley.

I've been a busy little woman today. I have a load of firewood arriving on Monday (yay! I still think it's totally exciting that I will be sitting by an open fire this winter) and I had to make room in my little garden shed for the cord and a half of pine and mixed gum. It'll be a bit gruelling getting the wood from the street down to the shed, which is by the back door so I've offered my 17-year-old son and his friends some money to do the job. Fuck, I hope they say yes, otherwise I don't know how I'll get it done. So yeah, cleared out the shed - lots of sneezing in the dusty mess, but it's done now.

Tomorrow I might be making tomato relish. That's the plan anyway. Okay, I'm sounding scary and domestic. Fun takes many forms, okay?!

Destiny

In case you can't read this, it says "www.happyclappinghomo.com Brian Tamaki says he's liberal"

There was a Destiny Church march in Auckland today. Gone are the black t-shirts - now they don't want to look too right wing. Now Brian Tamaki is going public on his desire to entire the political arena (like we didn't see that coming). He says that since no MPs appear to believe in God, then Destiny needs to involve itself in political matters. Oh, so the previous march in Wellington had nothing to do with politics? Puh-lease. I wonder where the 10% tithe is going? What's scary is that Brian could possibly do quite well. Just look at the States.

I Heart Huckabees

Not often do I recommend films to all and sundry. Normally I might recommend a particular film to a particular person, knowing that it might suit their sensibilities, but I just saw a film tonight that I think most of the people I know would like. I haven't laughed so much in ages. It's got the dirtiest sex scene of any film I've ever seen. If you've seen it, you'll know what I mean. I checked out Rotten Tomatoes and they didn't even have anything bad to say. Well, not so far anyway. Some crap reviewer will find something bad to say about it at some point I'm sure.

hedgies

I didn't know anyone actually kept these little beasts as pets. I wonder if you can train them...

I've been pretty busy with work. Hence the lack of blogging. Going to try to get out tonight to catch a flick. Would like to catch the new Mike Leigh film (always been a bit of a fan) but SOD thinks his films are depressing. Hmmm, will report back later.

I got all enthusiastic today about setting up a vege garden, but the part that requires hard work and lots of time is what puts me off. The upkeep is fun, but digging it up in the first place is a bit of a mission. I've rung a local handyman/gardener who put a flyer in my letterbox and he's coming round tomorrow to quote me on the work. Exciting!