Pages ... if I get around to it ...

Friday, August 25, 2006

"Go figure" ? ... or whatever ...

when I posted the last 2 things here, I was also going to do this too, but I ran out of evening ... oops!

The crochet Dude (
http://thecrochetdude.blogspot.com/ ) had this thingy on his blog (he got it from someone else's blog - it is doing the rounds)

Life's to do list - Completed items are
green and purple are the ones I am not sure if they count ;-)

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins (can't remember doing that, but I have had them surfing in the bow wave of the boat a few times, and had them try and do it with the catamaran I was sailing but I wasn't able to go fast enough for them)
03. Climbed a mountain (... yeah - I used to live at the bottom of a hill that was actually Mt Taylor! ... but I have also climbed a few bigger mountains too)
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula ( in order to hold a tarantula one has to actually have access to one ... if someone has one that it is ok to hold, I will hold it ... might be kind of nice to actually meet one)
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (I'm seriously a hopeless romantic)
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree ... I have talked to trees too - trees usually listen better than people do ...
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (I have also stayed up and been too busy getting lost in here to actually see the sun rise!)
14. Seen the Northern Lights ... no - but I have seen the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis) instead ... bit hard to see the Northern Lights when I live in the Southern Hemisphere!
15. Gone to a huge sports game ... not that a "huge" game over here is really that huge ... but I think a one day cricket match is big enough to qualify as our next best thing ... and if that doesn't qualify then I think actually being part of the opening ceremony for the Olympic soccer matches (that were here in Canberra) does!
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg (does lettuce count?) ha ha ... that was the crochet Dude's comment but I had to leave that one in! ... it is the only iceberg I have touched too ...
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby's diaper we call it a nappy though - and the first one I changed was the one on my newborn baby! (I didn't see the need to practice before that - I had seen it done and somehow I just knew that when the time came I would be able to do it ... I was right ;-)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower ... also saw and heard a close one once ... the meteor I saw was close enough that I could hear the hiss as it passed overhead (it was falling on an angle i guess ... was high enough not to fall that close to me and I lost sight of it behind the house anyway)
23. Gotten drunk on champagne ... not sure if it was the bubbly or the beer and wine and spirits I had with it ... LOL
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope (I should do that more often, seeing we actually own a small one ... it even has a motor and a fancy tracking gadget that lets it follow the stars across the sky)
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment ... don't think I have ever had an uncontrollable giggling fit ... but there have been times when it has been very hard to stiffle a chuckle at something
27. Had a food fight I was in the middle of a huge one in the dining hall at uni - no I didn't start it ... don't think I actually threw any food either - didn't want to have to help clean up ;-) ... but i am sure I have thrown food on some other occaision ... even had a sword fight with the dog, using a french stick (long skinny loaf of bread)
28. Bet on a winning horse (I paid 50cents to go in a Melbourne cup sweep at work ... and got my 50c back because the horse I got ended up coming last!)
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight ... yeah - one or 5 ... I remember the first one - was on my first trip to the snow (in high school) I threw a big snowball at someone just before we bot back on the bus and it missed them and went in the bus window ... guess what seat it landed on? - yes - mine!
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb I grew up on farms ... one was a sheep stud ... I held them, fed them ... and I have even shorn a sheep ...
33. Seen an eclipse a few lunar ones, a few partial solar ones, and a total solar eclipse - wow!
34. Ridden a roller coaster

35. Hit a home run ... it was a fluke if I even HIT the BALL!
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day er ... why?!
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
- how about three?! ... (this one has 3)
40. Visited all 10 provinces or all 50 states of what country? ... he he ... there is only one state of Australia I have not been to ... but we only have 6 ... and a few territories (I live in one of those)
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk ... even drove his road train (great big long truck) down the road for an hour while he threw up out of the passenger side window and then slept it off (and he wondered why I left him?!)
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (some of my best memories include this)
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign (a friend in college stole a "Please Pay Before Pumping" sign and put it on her bedroom door) I think I once found a stolen one and kept it
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them ... does an Army mess hall count? - I sat at a table with one person I knew and one stranger ... that "stranger" and I got married and we now have teenage kids!
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (I've tipped quite a few over, does that count?) ... people actually DO that?! ... I grew up on a farm - of course I tried milking one ... but I have never
56. Alphabetized your cds why?! I don't even get around to writing on my photos - why would I alphabetise a pile of CDs?!
57. Pretended to be a superhero someone who hasn't done that must have had a deprived childhood ... ?
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day ... only when I was sick ... although I have slept in rather late a few times ...
60. Posed nude in front of strangers ... does joining a nudist club, and going naked at their activites, count? ... or how about going in a wet tee shirt contest ... then taking the shirt OFF while still up on stage?!
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater ... I grew up in a country town ... the only other sort of theatre was the one with a stage, where they put on plays!
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken ... see #72
69. Toured ancient sites (in and around Italy, Greece, Mexico)
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for 6 hours straight does another role-playing game count? ... not that we were really doing much actual game ... it was more like a few minutes of game every now and then in between the "dungeon master" going and smoking joints and the rest of us having too much fun talking, drinking, messing around, etc ... but we had fun ...
72. Gotten married - and I still am.
73. Been in a movie no, but I have been on tv ...
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced if I had married my first partner I guess we would have - but I wasn't silly enough to marry him in the first place ...
76. Gone without food for 5 days .. only once - when I had glandular fever and was too sick to eat.
77. Made cookies from scratch is there any OTHER way to make them?! .. throwing blobs of stuff on a tray and sticking it in the oven is NOT "cooking"
78. Won first prize in a costume contest ... I won the prize for best antlers at an "antelope day" party once ... the year after, when they had the next "antelope day" party I made them bigger and wore them again and won the prize for "least original antlers"
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Dead River
82. Been on television news programs as an "expert" (Does the DIY Network count?)
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music ... no - you do NOT want to hear it - it was when I was a teenager at uni, and I went in to the church one evening and put my tape recorder inside the piano, hit the record button and plucked away at the strings for a while ...
87. Eaten shark ... when I was a kid the fish one normally got given at most fish and chip shops was something called "flake" ... and what is flake? - shark!
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone no - but I did serve 6 years in the ARMY
92. Buried one of your parents ... I think I buried most of my dad with sand at the beach once ...
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (English & Spanish)
95. Performed in aisles at Rocky Horror (Just saw it for the first time last year and that was on DVD)
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over ... didn't really realise that was what I was doing at the time ... but looking back on it ... yes I did ...
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge (now that would be a big leash) I have walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking ... but I had to stop when everyone threatened to stop and throw me out if I didn't stop that horrid noise!
103. Had plastic surgery (does corrective laser surgery on my eyes count?)
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn't have survived ... when mum had my younger brother the doctor did mention something about nearly loosing me and being worried for a while (I surprised them and didn't come out head first like they were expecting) ... but when mum asked him to elaborate he wouldn't ... just said "don't worry, she looks healthy enough now"
105. Wrote articles for a large publication ... my blog is getting big ... does that count? ... or does someone actually have to READ it?
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone's heart
111. Helped an animal give birth ... had a couple of cats who had kittens ... but they didn't seem to need any help ...
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone ... actually someone broke it for me - it was my nose and he did it with his forehead ... says a lot about what was IN his head doesn't it?!
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol ... all of those, and thrown a hand grenade too ...
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery ... I assume having tonsils out is major?
120. Had a snake as a pet ... no ... but I have stick insects ...
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon how about to the top of Ayers Rock (Uluru)? (I did that one 3 days in a row! ... and did you know that it actually has some bushes and even small trees growing on the top?!)
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours ... think I did when I had glandular fever and was too sick not to ...
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states that is easy seeing I have never been to the USA!
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days ... we didn't paddle canoes for more than 2 days, but the overall trip was longer
126. Eaten kangaroo meat ... we Australians don't mind eating our coat of arms ...
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper ... with an albatross ... which doesn't sound odd until I mention that the albatross was found north of Adelaide - far from where it should have been!
129. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about ... don't know ... it is possible I might have but didn't know about it ...
130. Gone back to school ... I work at one - does that count?
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach ... there are lots of different sorts ... if they are smelly and eating stuff in my house I squash them ... but if they are out in the wood pile or the bush they are usually not the same species and I let them be ... have even taken photos of some pretty ones in the bush ... and there was a fish tank full of "pet" ones in the science lab at uni ... I think I patted at least one of those ...
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes (Mom used to make tomato jam)
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read their books. I did find a cheap second hand copy of a book I missed at school (not sure if the other class did it and not us, or if I was meant to read it but was too busy reading science fiction instead) so I bought it to read ... come to think of it ... I put it somewhere and now I can't remember if I actually read it or not!
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating I have killed, cleaned, cooked and eaten fish and rabbits ... have also killed and butchered a sheep (not sure who eventually ate that one), and I have plucked chickens and helped slaughter a cow ... that stuff is normal when you have lived on farms/etc
137. Skipped all your school reunions (hearing through the grapevine that everyone's going to meet at a certain local bar doesn't make me want to travel 1,000 miles to attend. I'm just saying.) ... ditto - although usually I have not even actually bothered to find out if they have even had one ... I kind of left the town and never kept in touch ...
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language ... how hard is it to point at some pretty object and hold out a coin? LOL
139. Been elected to public office ... I probably could have been president of Canberra Quilters one year, if I had wanted to - they couldn't find anyone to put their hand up so if I had put mine up I would have been it ... but being president of something like that just isn't "me"
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream (I have thought more than once that I'm living IN a dream and that I could wake up at any moment).
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you ... ask me again in a few weeks time ... that is if I actually finish something to try and sell in the TASDA exhibition
145. Had a booth at a street fair ... it was a table at a market in some paddock somewhere ... sort of the same thing except it was not a very good market and nobody bought anything ...
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head (see #146)
149: Caused a car accident ... the police report said I did ... but it was actually the other driver ... but it wasn't worth arguing at the time ... was only a minor one.
150: Saved someone's life ... who knows - I might have without realising it at the time - anyone who fixes up something that was dangerous and/or an occupational health and safety issue/etc or correctly disposes of something poison/harmful rather than leaving it in the wrong place/etc or does something like warn a tourist not to swim at an unsafe beach or whatever may have saved a life without even realising it!
151: Walked the streets of Pompeii then climbed Mt. Vesuvius (I added this one to the list because it was an incredible experience) ... I have probably seen and done one or 2 incredible things too ... but I want to do more ...

talking about DOing things ... there are other things I should be doing now ...

It Figures ...

hmmm ... a month ago I copied 3 links into a blog post and then saved it as a draft ... now I am not even sure what the 3 links were, and what I was going to say about them! (but I am sure I will remember once I go and look at them ;-)

http://www.theiff.org/oexhibits/oe1.html

ah yes - I found a website for something called "The Institute For Figuring" ... hence the title I gave this blog post ... the link is to an online exhibit, about something called Hyperbolic Space ... which I found quite fascinating (even though some of the maths is way beyond what I learnt at school/etc ... sigh)
I think I found the link to this on a blog or website about crochet (that or I saw it mentioned and went searching) - because the site actually has a section on crocheting this stuff! - click on "crochet models" on the menu on the left ... hyperbolic space is kind of what Escher used for some of his art, and they have worked out that it is also how lettuce grows it's crinkly leaves ... kind of like fractals explain how a fern leaf grows the shape it does ... yeah I know - this all sounds like nonsense ... but it makes sense to my weird mind ;-) ... although I kind of got a bit lost when they explained why they now think our universe might be shaped like a pair of pants!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/12/041219170412.htm

oh - this was another crochet model of a mathematical concept - one I found out about a year or 2 ago ... I think it would drive me nuts trying to crochet something this huge - especially seeing I would already know what it was going to look like when it was finished ;-)


http://thatyarnstore.blogspot.com/

A crochet blog - ah - this was probably where I found the link to that hyperbolic crochet stuff! ... then again ... it may have been one of the things that came up in the search results when I went looking for hyperbolic crochet after reading about it wherever else it was i first read about it ... it's an interesting blog though ...

while I am on the subject of weirdo maths concepts etc - I should find the fractal website I was looking at and put that link here too ... if I can find it ... I downloaded a fun program, called "Winfract" ... which is a windows version of one I used to play with, called "Fractint" (both are/were free to download ;-)

hmmm ... still looking ... but I did find this - http://irfanview.com/ - I think this was on the computer once upon a time back when "the computer" was the one that is probably now sitting in bits in the corners of the house somewhere because it has been replaced with a newer/faster one ... or it may have even been the one that was replaced by the one that this one replaced ... or something like that) - Irfanview a handy little freeware graphic veiwing program, that is also useful to convert graphics files from one format to another (which was what I think I wanted it for last time I found it ;-)

hmmm ... I found a different freeware fractal program than the one I was looking for - http://www.fractovia.org/uberto/ ... I have not downloaded or used it yet (because I only just found it!)

Ah - here is the website I was looking for - http://www.dwponline.com/fractals/ - has a basic explanation of fractals, some pretty pictures, a link to download the winfract program, and a whole pile of info on how to download/install it and a heap of hints for how to use it and what to do with it ... lol ... oh - it also has links to more info on fracals and chaos theory and stuff too ... enough stuff to get someone like me lost for hours ... days even!

btw ... more about that making things website, with the stuff made with Altoids tins ( http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/altoids_and_tin_cases/ ) - I forgot to mention this in the other blog post, but I just had to have a laugh at it - there is even a project on there for how to use an old Ipod shuffle to make a container for your Altoids! ... so you have somewhere to keep them after you have tipped them out of the tin so you can use the tin to make the other projects!
one wonders - if you need to use the tin for something other than keeping the Altoids in, then - unless you are like me and don't like them - why not just EAT the darn things?! ... or if you don't like them - let your partner and/or the kids eat them, or give them to the dog or something ...

I should have spent the time I spent in here this evening doing something else ... like finishing my June and July journal quilts, starting my August one, and writing addresses on the fabric postcards I am supposed to be posting tomorrow (actually I should have posted them earlier this week ... but tomorrow is ok ... and hopefully next week will be ok too - they have to arrive by the end of this month ... but 3 of them only have to go to places here in Canberra, and one to Qld ... so even that one should only take a couple of days to get there ... if they get there at all (that is part of the excercise - to make a fabric postcard, put a stamp on it and post it and hope it survives the trip ... although those who are less adventurous, and/or don't trust Australia Post/etc, have been putting them in envelopes ...)

er ... it is now "too late" ... and I am still up ... oops ... ;-)

I will try and get around to posting a couple of quilt photos sometime soon - the exhibition has now been and gone, and I actually did get my quilts finished in time ... I entered 3 quilts and a bag actually ... but one of the 3 quilts is the January journal quilt that I finished earlier in the year and have already posted a photo of.

btw - I started my own hyperbolic crochet thingy ... and it is also a moebius strip (which is rather weird because as someone else described it "eats itself" as you crochet it!) ... I only did a bit of it, then got busy doing quilts, and now I am busy doing some crochet and other stuff for the TASDA exhibition (although I might enter that, or another better, bit if hyperbolic crochet, if I get time to finish/make it ... and if I can think of a name/etc to relate it to the theme of the exhibition ;-)

goodnight

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Some random stuff ...

I figured it was about time I posted something ... rather than writing something new, I probably should post the thing I have saved as a draft - especially seeing I just noticed that the date beside it is 24/7/06 (well actually it says 7/24/06 but we Australians don't write our dates that way around) ... and today just happens to be the 24/8/06! so I saved it exactly one calendar month ago ... weird eh? (but I am going to post this one first, before I forget what I was going to say ;-)

The date kind of jumped out at me more than it normally would, because today is Dad's birthday - Happy Birthday Dad ... not that he is at all likely to be reading this ... I think he is probably just finishing setting up camp somewhere in a camp ground in Kalgoorlie (they are being "grey nomads" and travelling all around Western Australia at the moment ... wish I was having fun travelling instead of stuck here going to work every day ... sigh). - I just spoke to Mum and Dad on the phone almost an hour ago and they were just starting to set up camp
... I am not sure how long it takes to set up a camper trailer ... probably not that long actually - Dad has it all organised with clever little drawers and stuff and places for everything ... and that neatly leads me to one of the things I came in here to write about - there is a website URL that I wanted to post here, and I was also thinking of sending it to Mum and Dad when they got home ... but maybe I shouldn't - Mum might have to start fighting with Dad for computer time ... LOL
What URL would my Dad possibly find so interesting? - this one ...
http://www.makezine.com/

... I found the link to it in a science newsletter I am subscribed to ... one aimed at School students (and teachers) ... which is why I found it highly amusing that the page the link actually pointed to - http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/02/
it has instructions for how to make a copper pipe potato gun! ... there is a LOT of other interesting stuff on that page too ... including a link to another interesting book on the Project Gutenberg website - http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/12655 ("The Boy Mechanic Vol 1" which has some fun things to make, some things that nobody would bother making but are funny to read, and some things that nobody would want to make/do now that we know how dangerous some of the chemicals/etc are!)

... I have also found a couple of interesting old sewing/etc books, on the Project Guenberg site, too - quite interesting and probably also quite useful!

another thing I found on that "make" webiste was this page about projects that use Altoid tins (or any other small tins that mints/etc come in) - http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/altoids_and_tin_cases/

I noticed someone has made a survival kit in one - http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/08/make_a_survival_kit_out_of_an.html
... I have a few tins that same shape/size (I hate Altoids, but luckily my husband and kids like them ;-)
so ... here is a picture of the "survival kit" that I have been carrying around for the last year or 3 ...



... well ... it might not save my life if I get stranded on a desert island, but it might save my sanity for a while ;-)

So ... what is all that weird looking stuff in there?
(and yes - it was all IN there, and - even more surprising - it all fitted back in there again after I took the photo!)

In the tin, there are a pile of fabric hexagons, and the paper hexagons I am sewing them over (so that eventually, one century, I can sew them all together into a quilt or something) and there is a tatting shuttle, with some thread on it (ready to start tatting the 4 butterfies I need to finish decorating a fabric box I made a year or 2 ago), and a crochet hook (needed for the tatting - to join the rings of knots to each other I have to pull the thread through the loops with something and this tatting shuttle isn't one that has the hook built in like some of them do), and there is also a tangle of left over sewing thread that I have been using for the hexagons, and a tangle of embroidery thread that I was using for something else that has been finished and removed from the tin (probably should sort out the tin and take that thread out ... then again ... I think I left it in there because I was going to use it to do some embroidery on that little green scrap of fabric ... not sure what it will end up being used for though), there is also a safety pin, a sewing machine bobbin full of thread, and hopefully there is a needle or 3 hiding down the bottom. One other item ... that also makes the tin qualify as a survival kit? - that little round ish brown thingy beside the bobbin - is a coffee bean! (I ended up with a handful of them somewhere ... ate a few and decided that eating any more would be just a bit too much caffiene in one go ... so I threw them into the sewing tin, which I happened to have in my pocket at the time ;-) ... I ate one a few days ago when I went to get a needle out of the tin and found the coffee beans ... so there is probably another one hiding down the bottom ... with the needles?! ... ).
Sometimes a coin or 2 live in there too ... but not at the moment - I have not put any back after the last time I was short of money one day and needed a couple dollars change ... calling it a survival kit and mentioning that it sometimes has money in there kind of reminds me of when I was a Brownie and a Girl Guide, as a kid - and we used to carry 5c (the price of a phone call), a notebook and pencil, a safety pin, and a bit of string, (and probably a hankie too, but I don't remember that) around in our pocket - in case we ever needed them ... of course my pockets also used to contain an assortment of other odd stuff at various times too ... like rocks and nuts and bolts i had found, and gum nuts and insect cocoons and feathers and leaves and whatever else i found and collected ... and it used to drive my Mum nuts ...

er ... I should have gone to bed 2 or 3 hours ago ... so methinks it is time I posted this, and the other one (which I have just been writing in between writing the last 2 bits of this one ;-) ... and then I should go get some sleep, before it is time to get up again and go to work ... sigh ...





Thursday, August 03, 2006

Pixel


Approximately August 1989 - 3 August 2006

RIP

If my maths is ok, that is almost 17 years - not bad for a tortiseshell moggie who had cat flu when we got her from the pet shop ...

(btw, this photo was taken a week or 2 ago, while she was doing one of her favourite things - sleeping in some of my fabric!)

... talking about fabric - I have a quilt to finish, right now - it needs me to sew a few more beads and stuff onto it, before I deliver it tomorrow - it is one of my exhibition quilts ... I was up rather late sewing beads and stuff on it last night, most of the time with Pixel on my lap - kind of a nice way to say goodbye (we noticed she was too sick to eat sometime after the vets had closed, and we had a fair idea that the trip to the vet in the morning might be a one way trip ... Diesel (the dog) was rather upset when the catbox came back empty ... and Spook (the other cat) is on my lap right now ... but that is nothing unusual for her ... she seems to think that having a cat lying over my arms helps me type better )