Sok's housewarming was really fun. Their house is *so* huge and really nicely decorated and finished. I must be far too used to tiny bedsits, because it took me quite some time to get over the fact that *they have an actual hallway!*
I managed to drink without drinking too much (ah, such restraint!) and the jelly-tip-flavoured-vodka was delicious. Mmmmm. I wonder why there aren't alco-blocks for sale? Alco-pop seems to sell pretty well.
I also had some great conversations with people who I haven't seen or talked to in yonks. Lucky me! And seeing T all dressed up and with that cute little hat! Made me wish I had a teeny-tiny little hat with feathers to glue to the side of my head.
The flat tyre *could* have been a very difficult conundrum except for the *awesome* people who so kindly lent a complete stranger their spare tyre. Some people are just lovely.
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I took Sock (the dog) for a walk yesterday and we found 14 paua shells. They are all different sizes and I managed to make two sets of 4 that decrease in size so they nest inside each other. Now all I have to do is sand them down and make them all pretty, and they will be a neat little decorative piece.
The only thing that disturbed me about the shells was that I found them right by a sign saying "Emergency Sewer Overflow! Do Not Swim, Fish or Eat Shellfish". There was a huge pile of mussel and paua shells about 2 metres away. And I do mean huge - like about 60-80 mussel shells, and the previously mentioned paua. So, either the seagulls are very carefully diving for and opening the shells with seagull knives, or someone ignored the sign (printed in 3 languages, plus symbols) and had a feed from the sewer-overflow channel. Yummy.
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On another topic entirely, this speech by Rowan Atkinson on the UK's Religious Hatred Bill is really worth a read. It is a sober, informed and witty piece of thinking on the issue, in my opinion. What do you think?
God, cutting the dog's hair is as hard as giving a haircut to a toddler. I'm having to do it in lightning-fast sneak attack stages. She twists around, tries to eat the scissors, the comb, the hair... she thinks it's some sort of advanced patting mechanism.
So she kind of looks uneven at the moment. Her head and feet are done and look tidy, but the feathering on her legs is wild and woolly, and her tail has a ridiculous little flag of white waving around at the tip. I would get a professional groomer to do it, but they're so expensive! Hell, I don't even pay a hairdresser to do my hair, I'm such a tightwad. And broke, of course...
What a nutty little darling she is. She's certainly the only dog I've ever met that has such a varied diet - bananas, apples, apricots, zucchini, carrots, tomatoes, ice-blocks, lollipops, minties, yoghurt, hot chocolate, coffee, curry, onions, almonds, walnuts, shortbread, jam, marmite, peanut butter... basically, if I'm eating it, she expects some! It doesn't seem to do her any harm, she's in beautiful condition.
Can't wait for the puppies! Cuteness!
There are almost 400 known species of shark. Some, like the megamouth shark, eat plankton. Whale sharks, the largest fish in the sea, also eats plankton, small fish and crustaceans - and it reaches lengths of 60 feet and can weigh over 9 tons! Whale sharks are so docile that divers have reported actually climbing abord the fish and hitching rides. The only danger to humans is that it can damage boats when it bumps into them.
The basking shark, also enormous (40-50 ft, 3.6 tons), is also a plankton-and-small-things filter feeder. Dwarf dogfish, on the other hand, reach only about 7 inches at maturity. White sharks, cub sharks, oceanic whitetips, tiger sharks and ganges sharks are considered some of the most dangerous to humans.
I was also reading about rays, in particular giant devil rays.
A giant - twenty-two feet in breadth - towed a twenty-five-foot motorboat more than ten miles, with the boat's anchor dragging on the bottom part of the time. After five hours it was still alive, though four harpoons and several rifle bullets were embedded in its body. - The Shark Almanac, Thomas B. Allen
Amazing creatures. Twenty-two feet across!
No doubt I will have more snippets as I read the second half of the book. It's really interesting, get hold of it if you can.
I have a spare ticket for the Exponents/D4 gig at Indigo tonight if anyone would like to come along. Free, even! It should kick off about 8.30/9.00 I guess. If you'd like it, first in first served, post a comment or email me with a contact number and I'll get right back to you.
And if no-one wants it, I'll go by my damn self, cos it'll be a great night and I'm not going to let a little thing like social retardation put me off! If I did, I'd never go anywhere. Would be more fun with someone else though.
I took Sock for a walk in the park and we came down a path to confront a large ginger cat. I was expecting it to take off at first whisker of the dog, but instead it crouched down, fluffed out its fur, and prepared to argue.
Sock wasn't entirely sure what to do with a cat that didn't run. They stared each other down from about 2 metres away. The cat wasn't going to move, that was clear. I couldn't be bothered walking all the way up the path again, so eventually I just dragged Sock past it. There wasn't much room, she was only 30cm away from puss at one stage. Sock didn't even whimper until we were safely past the strange, non-running cat, at which point she realised that she looked a bit silly, so she salvaged her reputation with a salvo of furious barking that convinced nobody.
The cat just stuck to the path like glue. I only realised why once we'd gone past, and I looked back to see it chewing the head off a mouse with evident satisfaction. It must have just caught breakfast, and feline pride wouldn't allow it to relinquish a meal to a dog!
I really want to get hold of a second-hand sea kayak. Anyone know of anyone wanting to get rid of one?
Oh, and further to the Great Whale Debate... what about this? Every time a pod beaches and dies, all the dead whales get packed up in ice and sent off to Japan. That means that we don't have our beaches covered in dead whales, the Japanese get to eat them without the whole hunting/slaughter business, and we could process the ambergris/bones etc for sale and use also. And since the whales are dead anyway, it shouldn't affect the population the way hunting does. The money could go towards whale conservation or something. Or it could be given to me, for thinking of it.
Why is it barbaric to hunt, kill and eat whales, yet perfectly acceptable to hunt, kill and eat sharks? Pretty much all species of commercially-caught shark are threatened. Sharks are stunning creatures, magnificent predators. They shouldn't be served with your taties! Would you eat lion-n-eggs or tiger-steaks?
I bought milk today and opened it to find it all seperated out like yoghurt. It doesn't smell, it just doesn't look right. I wonder why?
Did you know, if you freeze cream and then beat it while it's really cold, it turns straight into butter...
Finally, a chance to get online! Well... Sock is pregnant (we're pretty sure) so that means pups in 12 weeks. I really enjoyed her last litter so am looking forward to it.
Read some unusual books recently. Has anyone else read the Chopper series? They would make a good tv series, although given the horrific violence, I am rethinking that in the latter part of this sentance. Let's just say, the books are worth a read, particularly the first 4.
God I'm tired. I got no sleep at all last night, and it made me wake up feeling sick. On the bright side, I will sleep well tonight. I'd better. Me not fuction sleep well without, to amend Homer somewhat.
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This is one of my favourite crime stories of 2005
Police: Robber was run down five times, then shot self
Things were looking good for one Milwaukee robbery suspect. He had just successfully held up his victim, who had given him some cash — but his escape plan hit a snag.
Instead of whisking the man away from the crime scene, his getaway car mowed him down.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the 29-year-old man, who has not been identified, allegedly threatened another man at gunpoint in a parking lot at about 2:45 a.m. on Oct. 23 and demanded money. As the victim complied, a truck that police believe was the suspect's getaway vehicle drove up in reverse and accidentally hit the man and his victim.
Things were about to get worse.
The driver panicked and fled in the car, leaving the suspect to limp away with the cash. Then a woman, who police say was a friend of the victim's and witnessed the holdup, drove up in her car and rammed into the suspect.
The woman allegedly backed up and hit the man two more times, the report said. When the woman reversed her car and prepared for a fourth go at the robber, the man reached into his pocket to grab his gun and in the process accidentally shot himself in the leg. The woman then bumped the injured man a fourth time.
Milwaukee police arrested the alleged robber and took the man and his victim to the hospital. According to the report, the victim was listed in satisfactory condition, while the alleged robber was said to be in critical condition.
Police are looking for the woman driver.