heh you know what I did yesterday?

I caught the bus all the way home, saw my empty car port and was all like "dang. I drove into work this morning, didn't I?"

so I went back into town to pick it up

but I got to the bus stop and the bus was like 45 minutes away, so I decided "screw that, I'm walking"

got down the road and spied another bus stop down second ave for a different route, and the bus was only like 3 minutes away. caught that instead, so it all worked out.

its about a 45 minute walk if I walk all the way, so its all good

didn't work out so good for the other two girls that had the same idea. they didn't walk so fast, and just got to the corner as the bus was pulling away.

I guess they did some more walking

There was going to be a "Year In Brief" covering 2006, but I got bored with the idea. Instead of looking back, I'm going to look forward to what the new year brings. Here's a brief run-down of some of the things that have happened already (in no particular order).

At the first training session of the year I found out that I had two weeks to prepare for a grading for both Iaido and Jodo, instead of the four weeks I was expecting. Panicking, I spent a fair amount of time at the dojo training and the rest of my free time writing the essay components of my assessment. It all paid off, as I passed both gradings on Tuesday, bringing me to Shodan in Iaido and Nidan in Jodo. During preparation, it felt satisfying to work through my own issues and make progress, and I felt like I was really beginning to learn. I can start to see the path ahead, something that was becoming clouded before. Although I'm not able to go to the national seminar and championships this year, I'm glad I've been able to make some progress.

There's been a spate of Ikea shopping recently. I purchased some cupboards to go in the alcove near the front door which will (eventually) hold a number of miscellaneous bits and pieces that are currently scattered around the house. More importantly, it will let free the spare room of the junk, making that useful space again. I also got the little boxes that fit in the bookshelf that I bought last year, providing more useful storage space for various things. I also picked up a new desk to replace my current ratty looking one. Its slightly shorter, but it will still hold all my junk. I haven't set it up yet, I'm waiting until I've got other stuff sorted out first. I'm not usually one for Ikea furniture, especially when they present storage the way they do in their catalogue, but I don't think I got anything too ugly, and am pretty happy with what I've got.

Sandy and Niaal have been cooking food and bringing it into work for the last week or so, sharing it around to those that want it. I cooked a Lasagna to participate, and will take it in tomorrow. Hopefully it won't taste like crap, and we can continue to do in-house lunches. I also roasted a leg of lamb (improvising from another recipe) and that turned out really nice too. Fortunately I don't have to share that :P Contrary to popular belief, I do actually enjoy cooking, but most of the time I just don't know what to cook.

Michele and I went down to Cottesloe beach on Wednesday night to look at Comet McNaught. We spotted it after about five minutes standing in the freezing wind, and continued to watch it for about another half hour until I finally got too cold. We also played with Michele's cameras for a bit, trying out the Holga in low light. We'll have to wait until they're developed to see how they went. When we look at the comet all we see is a little dot of light with a tail behind it hanging in the sky. Its hard to imagine just what the comet is, and how fast its moving. The closest I can get to visualising it is some corny sci-fi space movie, where there's an idyllic peaceful view of the Earth or some other planet in space, and then suddenly a giant ball of rock and gas comes hurtling past from behind us at a furious rate. What looks so peaceful so far away must be completely different up close, and I find that concept eery. We're such small beings on a chunk of planet whizzing through space at a mind boggling speed. It's almost enough to give you vertigo, if you think about it too hard.

Burning Crusades came out on Wednesday. I picked up my pre-order and started a Draenei Shaman on Argent Dawn. I played for an hour or two, but found it funny how packed the starting area was - everyone was starving for npc's for quests. I'm toying with the idea of starting a Blood Elf Mage, but I know my heart isn't in it. I might level my Tauren Druid instead - he's ready for the new levels. Sadly I think my WoW days might be numbered - I haven't played in two months, and still feel no compulsion to play. It would be a bit of a waste to have just shelled out for the new expansion just to close my account (although I doubt it would be any great loss). I'll see how it goes.

I think the spirit of this year will be to look for the little wins in between the bigger wins. I think last year I forgot how to live life, but I hope to learn from that and make this year count. There's things I want to do, both big and little, so I just need to get out and do them.

It really isn't worth it, is it? Starting at a measly 1.89% referral rate. Doesn't linking like this poison the results? I dub this experiment pointless. But that's never stopped me before!

Nice t-shirt though.

I sleep in quite late in the mornings. I dunno why, but I've never been a morning type person. The closest I ever got to that was the for three months I was looking after a friends house, where the bedroom windows faced the sunrise. I woke up with the sun.

Little known fact: the majority of houses are designed such that the bedroom windows face away from the morning sun. I tell a lie: I don't actually know if it's really that way, but after trying to use that in criteria in looking for a place to live, it sure seems to be true.

I wake up to my alarm. Over the years I've struggled with this, but recently it's starting to come together. I still wake up late, but its getting more natural. Part of it is making sure I get the right amount of sleep. Too little and I'm a tired, cranky little bitch. Too much and I'm a tired, cranky little bitch with a headache. But with just the right amount, I'm just a cranky little bitch (okay, who seriously couldn't see that coming?) Part of it is being fit. I ain't fit (no pun intended), but I'm making an effort there, and am trying to get the basics happenning before I move on to the big things. That includes eating right. Gotta get on top of that! Its just the net effect of all the little things that make your body get a decent rest, so its not fighting to get up in the morning.

But even on top of all that, I just gotta coax myself awake. I can't do it any other way, regardless of the other junk. Let some morning radio DJ spin some tunes that get my ears listenning. Talk about some shit so I can get interesting in the day. Wake me gently from my deep, deep slumber. Soften the shock from my backup alarm when it spews the first 20 seconds of 'Time' from Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' into my ear.

Mr Radio Alarm Clock, thank you for your fine tunes.

You're at Fat Camp. Second day. You're hungry, and it's really starting to hurt. Badly.

You're here because your Significant Other finally badgered you into doing it. "For me," they said. You've been 300 pounds for most of your adult life, after a traumatic incident at a health spa. You don't hate yourself, you don't have a problem being fat. You're just fat.

It's day two. You and ten others are standing in a rough circle in a courtyard, morosely kicking a ball around while the Fat Camp Organisers are standing watch. Everyones effort is half hearted, as though their thoughts were on weightier matters. Which they are, their next meal.

You don't have a problem with your weight, but everyone around you does. You don't feel unhealthy, no matter what your doctor says. Your Significant Other has really been getting on your case though, and it's been weighing on your mind lately. You only decided to go to the camp because you're sick of the nagging.

You miss the ball, and watch as it rolls slowly past. You turn to walk after it, when the door to the courtyard opens. One of the camp coordinators carries out a small table and a plastic bag to the center of the courtyard, right in the middle of the group. From the bag he pulls a something that's familiar to all the people standing around, a packet of Tim Tams. He opens the packet, and puts it down on the table and steps back to address you all.

"There's a Tim Tam for everyone. Don't rush in yet." He pauses. "One of them is poisoned." And with that, he turns and walks back through the door.

You all stand around looking at the packet for a while. You know it's not a bluff, as you've lost other people from the camp from similar exercises. Still, everyone slowly reaches for the packet and takes a Tim Tam. You're all holding the Tim Tam's nervously. You don't want to be the one that dies, but you're really hungry and a Tim Tam would really hit the spot.

You meet eyes with everyone, as if you're weighing up the risks. There's eleven of you, and eleven Tim Tams. Someone is going to die. You know that it doesn't matter though, you know you're going to eat the Tim Tam.

You eat the Tim Tam.

(Inspired by Girls Are Pretty.)