talula

PTA The Other Side quotes

Elder brother: Let us apply our brains to this, my enormous one and your tiny one.

Troll family dinner!
Troll Dad: Why are you so useless, your brothers have all been mugging people today!
Troll brother: I have been punching people!
Youngest troll: I kicked things. I kicked a wall.
Troll Dad: You idiot! (slaps son)
Youngest troll: It had a person on it, and their money fell down when I kicked the wall. It fell on my head.
Troll Dad: Good work son.

Emo teen gets an internship at the embassy....
Isaac: Uh, has he filled in an....
Receptionist: He started, but then he got disinterested.

Receptionist: You didn't fill in your gender.
Sam: No. It's difficult.
Receptionist: It doesn't seem that difficult.
Sam: Well, it isn't right now. You could put down male and it would be accurate now but next week it would be wrong and I don't know if you want your files to be wrong.
Isaac: Is this a "here" thing?
Sam (deadpan sarcasm to the extreme!): No. I've "magically" changed gender since I was a baby, it's totally normal for Earth kids.
Receptionist: I'm going on a bathroom break.

Isaac: try not to throw up in a drawer or whatever it is you kids do.

Troll: I did want to mug them Dad.
Troll Dad: I know you did son, and I'm proud of you.

Things I Love Thursday

It's a bit short, I'm a bit grumpy.

• Gilmore Girls boxed set, meaning I can go "huh, I want to watch the episode where Stars Hollow does the dance marathon" and I just can!

• Beuno bars by Kinder, they're like a ferrero rocher but in chocolate bar format. Yum.

• Matchingks! (The link down the side bar) especially the long delicious collection of pictures by Jane Burton.

• Holiday tomorrow. I am sooooo hanging out for this. I am going to do sleeping and quilting and writing and playing with my friends and walking on the beach!

• Swing dancing we had our last lesson last night, we'll be starting our next block of lessons next Wednesday! It's the same basic class again but with different teachers so all good. We only learned two new things, the jig which is where you do rock step and then little kicks in a close hold, and the frog which is a jump! I really like doing it.

I'm tired out. I wonder if I am still fighting off a sickness or still tired from the 48 hours or....I just haven't had a holiday since March.

Please do comment with your own list of things that make you go squee today, I need to think about more nice things.

PoF: snuggly slippers
CO: sleeps time now?

roleplaying PTA - the Other Side

word count on What's the Worst that could Happen? is sitting on 28,370. I am queen of the Procrastination people, didn't write anything new today, just typed up old stuff.

My Tuesday night roleplaying group has decided to give Prime Time Adventures another go, brainstorming a bunch of stuff and eventually all agreeing that we were into Fantasy tied to reality, culture shock and your identity and how it ties into your culture.

Here's the premise of our show: some time ago portals were opened from the real world to a traditional fantasy kingdom, populated with elves, orcs, humans and dwarves. The portals have been open long enough for people to be moving in, there's an Earth embassy and a small community of immigrants. There are call centres set up in the fantasy kingdom because it's cheaper to route it through there....

Elric is playing the seventh son of a seventh son who thinks he's the second son because his older brother killed all the rest...he's battling against his epic destiny.

Svend is playing Isaac, a human diplomat and PR rep for the Earth embassy. He is talkative and bureaucratic.

Star is playing a wood elf/dryad who works in an Earth company call centre and is desperate to 'do it right' and fit in with the humans.

Steve is playing a troll, stereotypically evil, violent and stupid he is a do-gooder trying to make his way in the world.

I am playing Sam, an emo teenager recently moved into the fantasy world and desperate to return home. Soon after arriving Sam was hit by a spell: whenever the weather changes, Sam's gender switches over. The identity uncertainty ties into his/her issue of culture shock and becoming happy in the situation.

anyway, more later. I have quotes and stuff but it's now late at night and I am sleepy!

The Quest - Finel Part

The Stone of Peace
Finel Part

In which the longest sentence ever threatens to eat the world.

Inside the cave Roger said "It's dampish!"
"It's got mugs hanging from the ceiling!" Whimpered Leo. We went on. Soon we came to the cave of fire. We ran through - at least I did.

All the toys stopped knowing they would burn I told hem to get Ruth, she came I told her to throw the toys over the flames, all of them made it over the fire, we had to go through passage after passage to get to the last cave with the stone of peace in it I grabbed it and very carefully put it in the broken seam in Leo and clutched Leo to my chest and we ran.

Soon we got to the wall of fire luckily Ruth was still there. I threw the toys over and ran through myself. A little bit later we were in the boat Karen, Ruth, Puzzle and I were paddling.

When we got to the part of the jungle where the toys had been I saw Ruth's toys. I yelled Ruth and I hauled them aboard. Later we got to where I had entered the jungle we packed everything into bags made by toys I said "good-bye" to Puzzle and we went to Swogglesvert I bought tickets to Wellington by train, bus and plane for three and a cat in about ten hours we got to Wellington we caught the taxi to me and Karen's house, Dad and Mum took me, Ruth and Karen to the scientists at the museum where they used it properly.

My mum and dad took Ruth home.

My quest was over now (great). Next week I got a letter it said:

* 11-5-87, Buckingham Palace, London.
Dear Jenny,
I would like to thank you for saving the Earth and behalf of the world like to ask you to save the moon by getting all four elements. (Fire, water, earth, air.) Thank you again
your truly,
Queen Elizabeth II

"Oh-no!"

The End

whoa, so the date on the letter indicates I actually wrote this in 1987, making me 7-8 years old. I think that's pretty impressive of little me.

On the back of the cover I wrote "A Jenny S paper back"

*This is an actual envelope with a letter in that I tried to write all fancy like.

what I bought Wednesday

...heh, clearly I have to stop going shopping every Wednesday, but I am very happy with today's purchases, so I am not regretful at all.

One: Pair of chocolate brown fake fur lined soft ug boot slippers from Sussan. My feet are in warm comfy heaven.

Two: Trashy magazines to take on holiday weekend. One is Cleo with a free mirror I don't need and I thought I'd try out 'Mindfood' because it is trying very hard to appeal to me.

Seven: seasons of Gilmore Girls on DVD. Whitcoulls have a 25% off all DVDs sale, including everything but blu-ray! So, all seven seasons for $172? Yes thanks.

and that's it. Very restrained really.

PoF: tiger hoodie, trackies and new slippers!
CO: meh

The Quest main characters

Me, obviously at the age of about 9 years old. Maybe 10. I'm not that sure, but I think I wrote this in Standard four.

Puzzle Shift, a bizarre creature I invented which is a monkey with a guitar for a tail. He is named for characters at the start of The Last Battle because you can't write a novel without literary allusions, doncha know?

Leo Lion was my best toy. I think I got him for a birthday, but I just loved him straight away. He's mostly bald now and his tail's falling off a little but I can never get rid of him, he's too important.

Wish Bear, my care bear and one of the few female soft toys I owned.

Wommy is a wombat toy my Mum brought me from Australia. He was awesome, but he never got a more original name than Wommy Batty. He was frequently a horse for our Barbies but also moonlighted as a priest for when my sister's doll got married and sometimes he would go on a rampage and destroy the Barbies. He was a complex character to say the least.

Snoopy is an important toy because he's the first one I saved up to pay for myself. He was a jointed soft toy and you could get outfits for him, I had the flying ace leather jacket outfit for him and he was awesome. He dated Wish Bear.

Roger Rabbit was my friend Anita's toy, which I was very jealous of because it was my favourite movie at the time.

Newspaper is a panda bear, probably also belonging to Anita although I don't really remember. His name is based on that funny joke, what's black and white and red all over...an embarrassed/sunburnt panda bear.

Doggie....who knows. Probably Anita's toy.

Then there's my sister and my friend Ruth, but they hardly seem important at all.

The Quest - Part two

You so want to know what happens in Part two. You know you do.

In this part I like how so many of the things I have mentioned previously in the story come into play in the second half.

It's incredible planning. I think I might have to do a whole 'nother entry about the toys mentioned....Plus, there are a couple of pictures I am going to scan so that you can all have the full experience.

We put the things we weren't using to the left of the boat and that was more or less five items. Then Snoopy took me to a tree and whatever you say it grows, so I said "Food" and it grew lots of kinds of foods Snoopy and I set about picking it all.

Then I said "Photo album" and a photo album grew "good" I said then Snoopy said "Wheelbarrow," and a wheel barrow grew, we put everything we had picked in it. We went back to the others. Later we were sailing down the river and Puzzle was playing (in tune) and newspaper was singing, Doggie played the drums, Wish bear played the sax and Roger clapped.

Then we saw a sign that said Pollutoin River.* Everyone stopped and stared and then gasped and goggled.

"Yowsers!" Said Roger.
"Yipes!" Said Snoopy.
"Mlap!" Roared Leo.
"La, la, la!!!" sang Newspaper, (who had not stopped.)
"Gosh." Said Wish bear.
"Woof!" Declared Doggie.
"Womm!" Said Wommy then we packed everything valued in the middle of the boat and sailed, or drifted, on. I played the tape I had bought at Slagsville, it said:

"**If you have to go through a river of much
don't go through you might get stuck
instead go through a ricer of crocs (by that I mean reptiles with leather jackets)
to kill them just say '1, 2, 3 you won't ever kill me!'"

Then it ended on the other side it said the same thing. We tied the 'good luck nugget' to the front of our boat to see if it brought us good luck to our surprise it steered us to a river full of crocodiles, we all sang "1, 2, 3 you won't ever kill me," apart from Newspaper who sang "La, la, la," (He still had not stopped,) all the crocodiles began to die, we saw a big mountain, I choose Leo, Snoopy and Roger to come with me.

We entered by a cave, inside, the mountain was cold and damp. We could tell there were traps because of Roger who kept on getting caught. We had to keep on stopping to grab him out of them. Soon we came to the cave of the dangerous dragon.

Roger said "Wow!" Then we entered, luckily the dragon was asleep, we unlocked the cage Bowie (my cat), Ruth (my friend) and Karen (my sister) were in then very quietly we left. The way back was easier because all the traps were sprung, (thanks to Roger Rabbit) then we got into the boat and while Puzzle paddled with a big leaf he had found, I explained everything there was to explain, (including why Newspaper was singing la, la, la) then Newspaper finally stopped.

The next morning we woke up and saw a big cave Teddy, Leo, Snoopy, Wish bear and Roger came with me into the cave.

*spelling unchanged, also I drew a little picture of the sign.
**This bit had a lot of musical notes drawn all around it, to show that it was a song. I have put it in italics for the digital format.

To be concluded tomorrow!

The Quest - part one

When I was about 9-10 years old I wrote a novel.

It was about me, naturally, having an amazing adventure. I did it for school, my teacher at the time was big on creative writing and gave us heaps of time to do it. She also had these cool papers with cartoony borders that we were allowed to use for 'good' copies of our work.

So, the story is basically about me having an amazing, wish fulfillment adventure. The other characters are my soft toys and one or two of my friends from school and some of their soft toys which I was jealous of. And the Queen of England, I think because she was the most important person I could think of at the time. Plus, she was an important character in the BFG by Roald Dahl which I adored. Oh, there's also a monkey with a guitar for a tail. Basically, I've always been a bit strange.

I recently uncovered this amazing piece of history and I will copy it verbatim here for you to enjoy. Of course, you won't be getting the benefit of the drawings I did for the cover or the cartoony borders that I was so into. You'll just have to imagine them.

You may notice that my obsession with food isn't a recent thing.

The Quest by Jenny.

Part One.

I felt excited as I packed my clothes, my photos and toys. I took $10.51c and a supply of food just in case. I took a compass, battery powered tape recorder and a few tapes, pencil and paper. I was packing of course for the quest for the stone of peace, ahead of me.

I was ready. I kissed my Mum and Dad goodbye. Then went to the airport by taxi and got on the plane bound for Spangle-land. The hostess gave me shortbread and chocolate cookies which I ate, then I got a lunch then asked for another as well as the one so I could pack one away for later. I got it.

Later on the hostess gave me some lollies. I ate some and again put some away for later. The captain said "fasten your seatbelts we are landing!" then at long last we landed in the airport of Spangle-land.

I looked around a bit after getting off the plane and caught a bus to Slagsville. In Slagsville I bought a thing called a good luck nugget, two leaflets and a tape. Then I took a train to Swogglesvert from there. I was able to get into the jungle. Then I built a boat and loaded what I had on it. I took out the photos and arranged the photo of the stone of peace just where I could see it and made everything look nice. I started to read one of the leaflets. It said:

"Explore the great Spanzgle Cave and see the living lights, a land of carrots and the great baddie behind bars". It said lots of other things that didn't interest me.

My tummy told me it was dinner time so I got out the aeroplane lunch and ate it.

Later I heard "Twang jabber, splut, splutter, gasp, gulp, twang, jabber, twang, gulp, blub" and a small sponge the size of a grape hit me on the head and landed on the bottom of the boat, 3 more came and then I saw a monkey with a guitar for a tail and he was he was throwing the things at me to get my attention. He started to rant and rave about how someone should help him so I reached out and found I could get the monkey and would only tip the boat a little bit. So I hauled the monkey aboard and he told me that I had to find my sister, my pet and my friend.

I asked the monkey where they were. He rattled a bit and said "I think (rattle) they're at (rattle) the cave of (rattle) the (rattle, rattle, rattle) the dangerous dragon." and on the word dragon he gave me a wallop and said "You have to go through the river of pollution to get there."
"What do you mean the river of pollution?" I asked
"I mean you're going to die."
"How? Oh don't worry." I said. "Do you want something to eat?"
"Yes." He muttered, so I gave him a biscuit he liked it a lot, then he said to me "can I come with you?"
"Well, I guess you can."
"YES!" He stood up and started to play the guitar tail. "twang" it said "twang twang twwaannnnng!"
"Sit down!" I said, I had to repeat it several times before he heard me. "Anyway who are you?"
"I am Puzzle Shift the monguitary." He said.
"I am Jenny S the human." I said "do you want a blanket? Its night time and time for bed."
"Yes please....thanks." he twanged a bit and fell asleep.

In the morning there were lots of soft toys floating around and some were unsuccessfully trying to clamber on. One of them was playing Puzzle's tail (twang twang twang) I reckongnised* Snoopy, Wish Bear, Wommy, Freeda, Roger Rabbit, Newspaper Doggie and Trav. Just they were alive, I grabbed them and took them aboard, we started to sink. I threw the toys on to the bank and steered the boat ashore. Then the toys and I dried everything and made (with Puzzle's help) a new boat that was bigger and stronger and safer.

*spelling unchanged

Monday itis is a medical condition.

srsly.

Good things about today, even though it was a Monday:

• When I got home I had received a letter from my Giffy! And it had cupcake panties enclosed for me! Cute!

• Thanks to my trusty lion umbrella, I did not get soaked in the rain.

• At lunch time I cleaned the kitchen and put away the clean dishes. When I got home from work I vacuumed the floors and put on the dehumidifier/heater to take the edge off the chill. Which Lee appreciated when he got home.
  

On the other hand I forgot to meet Evie for lunch, because I am a dumb-ass, and I spent the whole afternoon at work feeling both lightheaded and hyper, because I = spazz.

*le sigh*

So, even though it's a horrible dark rainy Monday and I'm a bad person, there are some good things going on. Yes?

I should review Indiana Jones, but I can't really be bothered thinking about it. It was a good enough movie I guess, but it was...more silly than I had expected. Maybe if I had read in Empire that they were trying to make it like a 50's B Grade sci-fi before I went in, I would have enjoyed it more?

Instead, I shall do something more fun and hopefully entertaining for you, my dear readers.

PoF: warm
CO: blee

swing update

because I forgot to mention it in Things I Love Thursday, here's what we learned on Wednesday, second to last beginner's class!

Mostly this is for Giffy's benefit, but I also find it useful to think about what new moves I know.

We were working on the basic six count, (rock step, triple step, triple step) for footwork and doing turns based on that.

First thing was doing a right hand pass where the lead swaps hands. This move is exactly the same for us follows, and the lead just changes which hand they hold ours with. This means you end up in a 'hand shake' stance instead of standard open. From this stance you can do tricky turns.

First turn, not sure if it has a name. different wind up rock step, with a twist to the right with the lead pushing in and then follow moves left, hand up meeting lead's hand palm to palm. The lead then 'draws a halo' around the follow's head with both our hands, twisting the follow around in a spin. This was easier than it sounds here.

The second spin started the same with a wind up rock step, but the lead puts his other hand on the follow's wrist to push and break the hold, letting the follow spin around unaided. This one was a little more difficult for me because a lot of the learning leads kind of got the idea wrong and would grab your wrist with their whole hand, which is not inducive to spinning, it more makes me stop dead. But! When I did it with the taxi dancer it was much easier and I got it down fine.

I was especially good at keeping my arms in the right place, so that when I spun back around it was easy for the lead to grab my hand again and resume dancing. All the practice spinning made me quite dizzy I have to say.

Then there was getting out of that hold again, and I've kind of forgotten how that happened, so I suspect it was something that I did the same but the lead had to think fast. I think it was a Lindy circle thing.

Lee says we had two ways to get into the different stance. I have forgotten the second one. I really was out of it on Wednesday night!

Next week we are learning 'the frog', a move where the follow jumps with help from the lead! Exciting!

Linking to cool things

Tell all article from a Disneyland Jack Sparrow is a fascinating read. I mean, I totally believe that women act that way around men dressed as Jack Sparrow. Also, Jack Sparrows go to Renfaires? I *must* get to a Renfaire!

Superhero scenes we'll never see in the movies list from cracked is a good example of just how bizarre superhero comics can get. Plus, hilarious.

Runaways is being made into a movie, which makes me happy, on the proviso that they make it a good script.

Studio Red is where we learn swing dancing, so if you're keen to learn swing and be cool like me and Lee, you should do some classes!

Video tour of the superhero costume exhibit at the Met. It's almost like being there! I want the Dolce and Gabbana catwoman mask, thanks.

also via Gala Darling (as the above link was) this collection of modified molekines is astoundingly beautiful and cool. Love the bunny one, especially.

Have I mentioned that I want to be Meg Cabot when I grow up? This video of her reading a list of goals from when she was 14 is awesome.

Ok, I think that's everything I wanted to show you. Have a great weekend!

PoF: I may never get out of bed again. Unless it is to have a bath. Or to get up and see if the Warehouse has any onesies left.
CO: superheroes are cool.

Phew

the organiser of the 48 hour film competition has uploaded a video of the last 20 seconds before hand ins closed on Sunday night.

Watch for Lee!

I can't believe how scary it is to watch, even though I know he got it in on time....

Things I love Thursday

Just a quick one, because I have friends here to talk to.

My friend Jen from Trade Me is overseas and her and her partner have an awesome travel blog. They are currently in Japan, and have uploaded heaps of pictures too.

Fairy Goth Mother is a pretty pretty site full of gothy Victorian pretty clothes and knickers. I especially want the prom dresses!

The reaction to our 48 hour film screening last night was really really positive. There were cheers and laughs in all the right places, there were appreciative responses to my reveal in my superhero costume. It couldn't really have gone down better.

Looking forward to going on holiday. Next weekend, Waitarere, oh yeah.

Lee's delicious slow cooked curry. Om nom nom.

Also, I love the Children's book awards because of it being all a celebration of literacy and writers it's neat. It's inspiring for me as a writer and also they give you free drinks and food. This year they did a whole big woodland theme decoration extravaganza and we were provided with cupcakes decorated like toadstools on the tables. They were so good.

Honourable mentions to: clean quilts, onesies becoming a huge fad amongst my friends, photos of people during the 48 hour film competition, new friends who are awesome, old friends who I love and fragrant bath products.

PoF: warm in polar fleece
CO: sniffy nose

Still recovering

I am still pretty shattered from the 48, slept in late today and had a nap last night when I got home from work.

Last night we went to see the One Man Star Wars Trilogy which consists of you guessed it, one man doing the whole original Star Wars trilogy. It was freaking amazing. So much energy, so many funny jokes, so many great impressions. It was especially neat since we went on opening night and he sat down on stage afterwards and chatted to us about the show for a bit. I'm not sure if he does this every night or not.

Anyway, it was awesome, and if you get a chance at all go and see it. Unless you hate Star Wars, in which case don't bother.

Today I bought Cloverfield on DVD and it is shiny. Then I swung by Lush because I want a new Rock Star soap and they have an amazing deal on right now: Buy $30 worth of products and you can choose up to $45 worth of stuff from a huge selection that they have behind the counter!

So, I bought: rock star soap, sea vegetable soap (oldie but a goodie), dream time bath melt and an Emperor of ice ream butter bar. Then for free I got a large bottle of Flying Fox shower gel, a chocolate lip balm and an I Love Juicy shampoo. Awesome. I am going to be smelling sooooo good for the next few months.

Anyway if you live in the Wellington area I fully recommend you head to Lush as soon as you can. Today is the first day of the promo and it's running as long as they have the excess stock to move on. Yum yum yum.

I read the new Scott Pilgrim comic by Bryan Lee O'Malley. It is called Scott Pilgrim gets it together and is both awesome and hilarious. The video game aspect of his life is upped quite substantially as well as what the title says, he gets it together.

My brain hasn't been too together in terms of getting writing done, but I did manage to scribble a couple of pages down today before the nap I had to have, and who knows? Should be able to get a bit more done before I have my mega-Wednesday night.

Mega-Wednesday:

- Children's book awards ceremony at 4.30 - 8.30
- Swing Dancing 7-8
- 48 hours heat screening 9.15

I don't really want to skip out on the book awards, since it's generally a fun night with cool people, but I hate to miss swing dancing more. Even though I have no energy and have probably forgotten everything I've ever learned.

Psyched for the film screening tonight though, can't wait to see what Borghard hates you looks like in its entirety! On the big screen! With an audience!

PoF: stripey
CO: work hard little immunity system!

Doing the dance of links

The daily coyote is a fantastic blog about a woman who adopted and raised an orphaned coyote. It turns out he likes the robot vacuum cleaner.

Svend sent me this cartoon about anime which I rather like.

I woke up with the Tiny Toons theme in my head. I found their version of the They Might Be Giants song Particle Man, which is pretty cool, although it makes me sad for Plucky Duck.

Interview with Robert Pattinson about Twilight where he makes me happy by talking about how messed up Bella and Edward's relationship is. Plus, his accent is hawt. (Link from Cleolinda)

This list of terrible video game renders of celebrities, is rather funny.

Cleolinda has been reading the Stephanie Meyers vampire books. Read them she deftly and succinctly puts her finger on all the stuff that bugs me, Bella's Mary Sue characterisation, her double standards, the ridiculous wish fulfillment of the whole thing.

Also, am I the only person who's really excited about The Dark Knight because of Aaron Eckhart? Check him out! He's awesome!

Finally, the hype about the new J.J. Abrams show has started. Check out the pics from TV week...

PoF: trackies
CO: still sleepy

post 48 hour film competition

I'm a little sleepy.

Friday night Lee, Nick and I went along to the pick up point. I made us leave quite early just because I figured rather too early than late. The rule was one person per team, so me and Nick took off before the doors closed and tracked down food in Netown. We found cheeseburgers.

When Lee got to the car at 7 we managed to leave pretty fast, no traffic jamming or panicked crowds this year which was good. Our genre was Fairytale or Superhero.

The brainstorming session was long and involved, we ended up down to four good ideas, the writers figured out what they felt confident they could pull off and we ended up with 'flatmates bickering, one turns out to be a superhero, one a supervillain. There's a third flatmate who is sidekick to at least one and another flatmate who is hilariously oblivious.'

I got cast as the secret hero, Chelle's brother Nick was the secret villain, Chelle was the sidekick and Jen's friend Berghard was the oblivious flatmate.

We had to include a brush, a line 'wait a minute' and Kerry Post, a perfectionist. I was the perfectionist, wavering more towards the clean freak side of things.

Michelle and I got to pitch extra ideas with the writers before they left the house and we got home. I was unable to sleep for ages and ages and I thought and thought and didn't sleep. This made me somewhat grumpy for Saturday morning. Once I'd had a coke I was much perkier for filming. We decided to film everything at Indigo City, so there were no locations to get to or decamping necessary. Nice.

All day we did crazy filming, more or less in the script order, first in civilian clothes and then in my super suit, my Hikaru Angelic Layer bodysuit and leg coverings, plus Giffy's shoulder length red wig and my black heeled boots. Chelle wore Giffy's Suzuka kimono, purple flares and purple wig. The hero names were Zap Girl (me) Dr Discharge (Nick) Buckwhip (good Chelle) Night Queen (bad Chelle).

I did all my own stunts, including:

-> flying backwards through the air
-> hitting a wall and falling down
-> being hit by Nick's sonic blast
-> rolling out of the way of having a couch thrown on me
-> leg sweeping Nick
-> Choking Nick along the floor and up onto the wall

my legs are achey now.

Norm fell asleep on the floor during our lunch break and then spent a full five minutes pissing himself laughing at the fat cat capsizing photo sequence. We made him have a nap after that.

We got some good bloopers. One where I slap my own ass and one where Berghard calls me 'splat girl' instead of Zap Girl. Hilarious. I can't remember the others now.

Other cool things: seeing comic book panels of myself, the evil villain makeup for Nick, the appreciation of my energy cookies, being in nearly every single shot!?).

We got free Nando's for dinner and pushed through to complete the script on Saturday night, minus the opening 'annoying flatmates' montage and a crack smoking 'mind power' scene. I was so shattered by the end and so was Lee, who was the director this year and really through himself into the role. The bath I had promised myself was total bliss at that point, and sufficiently relaxed me that I had a solid sleep through to just before the alarm went off on Sunday morning.

We'd given ourselves a late start on Sunday since we went late on Saturday and I did appreciate it. We filmed the pickups we'd been asked for and the montage stuff then a back up for the crack smoking scene and then the crack smoking scene. It was awesome doing the two last shots.

After that some ADR was recorded, we got Maverick's pizza for lunch and then settled in for the long wait. There were a horde of people in the editing room working furiously and the rest of us sat around and nattered and watched the DVD of last year's finalists. Things always get bad around 5pm I've noticed, and this year was no exception. The news from down below was sparse and unsatisfying. I was biting my nails when the safety cut still hadn't been outputted at 6pm, but it left at 6.25 with Jen and Nick and then I was able to relax. Norm, Steve and Lee worked hard on a better version (with no boom in shot) but none of us thought it would be ready on time.

I was on the phone to Jen at 6.53 keeping her updated and more or less telling her to hand in the safety cut when Lee tore up the stairs and out the door, camera in hand. I told Jen he was in the car and then hung up. We all waited with baited breath for the next couple of minutes, all sure that there was no way the better cut would make it in time.

Then a call came from Jen. Lee had made it in, with four seconds to spare.

Huge props to Chelle for driving so fast, and not killing anyone. The celebrations were loud and ecstatic.

Some of us went out for dinner after that but we mostly went home to rest. It had been a long long weekend.

I had another bath last night for good measure.

So. All in all, quite an awesome weekend. Some of our long time members got to step up into bigger roles, some amazingly fun new people introduced, lots of fun jokes cracked and wonderful memories. As ever, this is a great way to spend a weekend. Even if I do kind of want to crawl into bed now and never again move.

I have volunteered to go to Norm's and watch the footage and find the bloopers which should be fun. I will now go and print some photos from the weekend. Nick P was wandering around with my camera most of the time so there're some good ones.

The title of our film and also the catchphrase for the weekend and likely tshirt slogan? 'Borkhardt hates you.'*
Other notable lines: "Is this weaponised uranium?" and "It's turtles all the way down."

PoF: pjs and robe
CO: hungry actually

*Although I must point out for those who weren't there that this was a script thing. Berghard is actually a lovely person who hated no one.

Post Script. Jackie mentioned to me that filming a 48 hour film brings out the pack rat tendencies, because a lot of the random crap that you have is suddenly useful and important. I have to say I agree, since my desire to create costumes is increased tenfold by the idea that they may come in useful again. Especially shiny superhero outfits, because I am completely okay with being cast as a superhero again in the future.

pre 48 hour film competition

Things I've learned, things I hope to achieve.

I remember that last year it was very valuable for me to have a bath when I got home on Saturday night - to wind down and to ease aching muscles.

If I am acting, I hope to put in an awesome performance and be good at taking direction. The only obstacle I have here is that my husband is directing. I guess I find it easiest to disagree and contradict him of all people, so I must be good. (Thinking of my dance frame and being a 'follow' may help here. Who knows?)

People appreciate home cooking. I will make muesli biscuits this afternoon, maybe some other biccies too since they're easiest to tote around and hand to people on location.

Bring something to do, book to read or notebook to write in. There may be some downtime.

Pack random stuff we may not need just in case. Safety pins, cotton buds, tampons. You never know.

Make sure car is full of petrol, camera batteries fully charged, phone charged.

Relax and sleep at night. I was awake for an hour this morning between 2.30 and 3.30 but managed to lull myself back to sleep. I dreamed about sharks and other sea creatures thanks to watching jaws last night. S'a good film.

Remember to stay upbeat and cheerful, because this is contagious and everyone needs to remember that we're doing this for fun!

Pack sunhat, sunscreen, spare caps. Also warm layers, coats and big black polar fleece which is warm and easy to get on and off over costumes. Boots in case of mud, comfy trackies to change into.

PoF: new tshirt surge
CO: 48!

Things I Love Thursday

Number one today: Laughing. I get to do a lot of it at work, and I get to do a lot of it when I roleplay, I get to do a lot of it when I am scanning the internets for entertainments. Laughing is good for my soul.

I am also happy about Having time off work which I have, in order to do the 48 hour film competition, which is very very exciting indeed. Tomorrow I shall sleep in.

Healtheries Immunity Boost , has been helping me fight off the illness I don't-quite-have. It's berry flavoured and makes the water and incredibly appealing shade of pink. It has all sorts of good things in it and it has been aiding my not falling down and just letting the bugs take my immune system. Srsly.

I had Nando's chicken for lunch. It's delicious, and surely not too too bad for me since it's barbecued not fried and I ordered corn on the cob instead of fries. Tasty tasty lemon and herb marinade.

Honourable mentions to: Good one year reviews, hand quilting pretty designs, catching up with people I see rarely, proof reading someone else's work. I don't know why but it made me feel like more of a writer even though I was just copy editing. Fun times.

Also Swing Dancing - yesterday we learned Kick the Dog which is so much fun!, swingout (hard hard hard), promenade to open stance and Lindy circle back to closed. Stringing all those moves together makes me puffed and sweaty, but it was awesome fun.

PoF: Jenni's Angels
CO: 48 film comp tomorrow and not getting sick for real real.

Bwah hah hah

Some funnies, let me show you them.

I like this reaction to Twilight.

Icanhascheezburger bring the funny hard.

I also love Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal which is often bad and wrong but very funny all the same. This one too.

Plus, a shout out to Cyanide and Happiness, who are sick and wrong and so so funny.

I have finished reading Matt's novel and I really enjoyed it. Can't wait to hand back my marked up print out and have a chat.

I have a driving desire to go out and spend money. I have resisted it for three hours. I keep thinking 'but if I have a second onesie, then I won't have to freeze when I wash the first one' and then I tell myself off because I have other pajamas and I don't need more stuff!

Swing dancing tonight. Yays.

PoF: comfy
CO: I am a consumer whore!

We'll live happily ever trapped

er. Listening to Foo Fighters there.

I'm feeling a lot better today but I suspect that my body is still righteously defending itself against the bugs, so I am drinking Healtheries Immunity Boost in the morning and taking it easy. That means that this evening will consist of proofing Matt's book and watching the new Hairspray while sitting under a duvet.

I may also have a hot chocolate.

News? I saw my sister, brother in law and niece today. They were all a little the worse for wear having been up and in transit since 2.30am our time, so they didn't linger long, but they did appreciate the new apartment and travel in the car lift.

Tomorrow marks my one year anniversary of working at Trade Me. Lee has suggested I celebrate by wearing my onesie to work, but I'm not sure I'm that brave.

I quite like the lists that Cracked.com puts up. That urban legend debunker list was pointed out to me by Frank, so thanks for that!

PoF: cold feets
CO: very very cold

Stunned

Completely out of the blue I am going to see my sister tomorrow. They are returning for a funeral, so not great circumstances, but I am psyched to see them all the same. They are flying in tomorrow, arriving lunch time-ish and flying out again on Friday.

I hadn't expected to see them for ages, but I'm really very excited now.

In other news, I am fighting off a coldy-fluey thing and (I think) slowly losing. My appetite is severely diminished, I couldn't get warm for hours at work this morning, my nose is stuffed up and my brain sluggish and a little achey. Brilliant for the 48 hours which is this weekend. I usually get sick after the weekend, not before. Grrrr.

Also, enjoying reading Matt's manuscript.
Happy that we have a tenant in our old apartment, huge stress gone there.
Nervous about Lee reading my manuscript.
Sleepy as all hell, because this illness I don't-quite-have prevented me sleeping last night.
Want cuddles, too emotionally confused right now. Heh.

PoF: blankie
CO: head.

......and Holy Crap, they are making a sequel to Donnie Darko which Richard Kelly is not writing? I ask why?

Making submissions

The Book Publishing Association of NZ do not accept submissions, but seem to be a useful group.

Longacre press.

Allen and Unwin although they are not accepting submissions for children's and YA books this year.

HarperCollins, looks promising, found via them, this authors advice type place.

Mallinson Rendel, whose website is beautifully laid out and has lots of cool Hairy MaClairy stuff.

Holy crap. I just noticed that they say "Please use single quotation marks for all speech," is this true of all writing? If so, I have editing to do....eurgh.

Penguin much prefer manuscripts to come from a literary agent. Hum. But they helpfully give contact details for a bunch of them.

Random House have a word doc of guidelines, but don't want fantasy and sci fi.

Scholastic have a very thorough and awesome submission guide download with heaps of information about professional manuscript assessors.

Victoria University Press is unlikely to be interested in Kiki, but perhaps I can consider them for my adult fiction.

Finally here's an awesome page of guidelines and tips from the New Zealand Authors and Writers Society very useful looking indeed.

So, my plan for Kiki now that I've got the manuscript back is to get Lee to read the printed up copy I received back from Matt and Natalya, and for him to find any typos, grammar errors they missed (or didn't have a pen for) and then do my final rewrite. After that I'm gonna get submitting to some of the above.

Wish me luck!

Linky linky

Mostly found these via Cleolinda...

Turns out Dove's 'real beauty' campaign is massively retouched. Not sure if this is a surprise to anyone, but I like how it was leaked by the guy that touched it up. Oh the irony. I mean, I kind of knew this was the case, but it makes me a little sad anyway.

Cool science stuff....on Talula? Yep, turns out the platypus looks so weird because it's a mix of different species! Scientists have mapped the platypus genome.

...and a species has adapted to climate change! Great Tits Cope Well With Warming, is basically the best BBC article title ever.

Youtube fun! The cool way to put on jeans, no really. This is amazing.

...and one of my writing idols Meg Cabot talking about where she gets her inspiration from and reads from her journal from 1981. Awesomely funny.

More Twilight, here's the official poster. Is it just me or is there something weird about how Bella's standing? I can see that Edward has his arms around her but I keep thinking it looks like her hands are tied behind her back? Or maybe she has her hands on something important of his...which would explain the expression.

It also bugs me that 2 out of 3 of the men are all staring straight back at the reader but the 'good' girls are looking off to the side. The only female staring straight back at me is the wild vampire girl who doesn't like Bella. Not sure what Alice and Emmet are looking at actually. I wonder why they decided to go with that poster?

This one is more better but she still doesn't look like Bella to me. I like how weird they've made Cedric Diggory look.

I want to end on an upper note than me whining/obsessing about the Twilight movie (seriously, why can't I leave it alone?) so here's one more link.

I really liked Style tips by Gala Darling, because they weren't what I expected and I really like the picture she uses to head up the article.

I just found out that Gail Carson Levine has a new book out called Ever. I must go to Borders and see if they have it yet...but I made an unofficial resolution to stop spending my money....but I really love her work....oh dear.

Oh heck, this how to take better pictures article Gala linked to is great too. Makes me want to go out and get artsy. And then get the pictures printed and scrapbook them. I am such a craft geek.

PoF: Pjs, robe-with-hood-up, two blankies.
CO: Hungry, want breakfast

(slightly late) Things I love Thursday

Thursday is a hard day for my to find time to blog because we've been having movie night. Thus: Friday's Things I Love Thursday.

• My Lee, who is incredibly good to me, despite me being grouchy and persnickety and craving cheese flavoured chippies late at night.

• Meeting an old friend for a tasty lunch and as a bonus being told lots of lovely things about the manuscript of my first book. Squee!

• Being so warm and snuggled in bed that I have vivid dreams. Not sure what to bold in that sentence...

• Swing Dancing! This week we did learn some new steps, but they were more or less variations on old steps. We learned: Basic eight step, (rock step, triple step, step, step, triple step) then two fancy moves that use the basic eight: swircle, where the lead goes around the follow and promenade, where there is a wind up rock step, putting the follow in front of the lead and then two steps forward (backwards for the follow) and then the lead triple steps around so he's back next to the follow. It's neat.

  My legs and knees are a bit stiff after Wednesday's class, especially because Lee and I came home and practiced it right away. We also did some work on how to be a follow and how to be a lead which was pretty valuable to me. I think my favourite moves are still the right hand pass and turns we learnt in the second class though.

• The black sparkly legwarmers I bought on Wednesday. I wore them under my jeans and they were super warm and awesome. I want to wear them so people can see them!

• Being in a place writing-wise, where I need to start researching publishers' submission guidelines.

  Also: stationery sets with matchy matchy stickers, weaing cool tshirts, laughing with people at work about bad callers, looking at cuteoverload.com, buying DVDs and the sun shining on the balconey.

  Edited: Late entry! This video of guys putting on their jeans.

  Please feel free to share what you feel grateful for today. Or yesterday. Whenevs.

  PoF: Pjs
  CO: when I first woke up this morning I thought it was Saturday, but it's not.

  Posted by jenni at 09:04 AM | Comments (4)

Newness

I just realised that I have been pretty healthy for quite a long time. I think this is in part due to me channeling my stress into jaw clenching instead of stomach illness, hopefully also in part due to better diet.

I realise this because Lee has a cold and I spent all morning sneezing. Although that could also be from the relentless coldness of Wellington in general. I woke up at 5am and my blankets were all messed up and I was too cold to go back to sleep. I ended up snuggling under a folded over duvet with my sheets arranged hood like on my head like a night cap.

This is why I must only ever wear my warm warm fleece onesie to bed. Dumb having to wash it. Maybe I'll try and decipher a pattern for it on the weekend and try my hand it making a second one. With a hood. And feets. Steve pointed out that I could probably market them, but the real question is whether or not I can get a good enough price to make it worth my time to make and sell them.

Lord knows I can use the money. I went shopping in my 'lunch hour' before heading home today and got new trackies, two new long sleeve tops (one pink and white merino stripe, one deep fuchsia v neck) glittery black legwarmers (oh so Gala Darling!) and on DVD Jaws and Life on Mars season two. I completely incorrigible.

Swing dancing tonight yay yay. I should really go and make that second pair of tshirt pants so that I can wear them. I cut them out after gaming last night so that my gamers could see I wasn't smoking crack when I was talking about making a tshirt into pants. Giffy, I'm using the bright blue "Wairarapa healthcare on the move" shirt. Hope you don't mind!

Will post pictures if they come out looser than skin tight. Here's hoping!

I got a real solid hour of writing done today, including a bit of mull time about who the villain of the story really is and what they are doing. Also how my lead's super power could warn her that her boyfriend might be breaking up with her....hmmm. One hour today equals 11 pages of notebook longhand.

Thanks for all the input re: sex scene by the way. I went the 'less said' route, letting the narrator leave it at a crucial point in the description and obsess at length about how it made her feel. Simultaneously I feel it is the right way to go and I worry that I could have gone deeper (so to speak) and I am wussing out. Oh well, I'll leave it for the re-write.

I'm very sleepy. I had a nap that was rudely interrupted by workmen drilling into walls downstairs. I shan't complain though, since they came through our place and hung the dryer up and installed a soap dish and robe hook in the bathroom and a toilet roll holder in the toilet.

PoF: blankie and new trackies
CO: productive at writing.

Oh, and in case anyone reading this cares as much about Cloverfield as I do, another viral site has been unlocked ( to coincide with American release of the DVD) revealing the origin of the monstar. Check it, check it out.

Twilight movie

The teaser trailer is out here.

I have to say that Cedric Diggory is doing better than I thought he would at being Edward, but I'm unconvinced by Bella.

This teaser also highlights another issue I have in my love/hate relationship with this mythos. The guys have all the power. Well, not exclusively, but in Bella's relationship the guy has all the power. Edward is always talking about how hard it is for him to not *just kill her* by accident, because he is super strong, etc etc.

He comes into her room at night to watch her sleep. She never says it's ok for him to do so and ok whatever, she really loves him so she doesn't mind but it's still kinda creepy.

I wish I could stop obsessing about this. The sfx look kinda cheesey, although I suppose they could still be polishing them. The car crash scene looks neat though....and I am so keen to see how they do the exceedingly cheesy 'vampires sparkle like diamonds in direct sunlight' thing.

Moan moan moan.

PoF: got my lunch on my top
CO: cold feet!

How'd I do?

Make myself some pants from a tshirt so I can wear 'em to swing dancing., so I figured out the pattern and it worked and is cool, but they're a little too fitted. They're basically short leggings...Not sure I'm gonna wear 'em.
I may make them again with a bigger leg and have shorts that work though.

Write some more and type some more. I certainly did typing. I am a little scared to write new stuff because I'm up to a sex scene....which is a very silly thing to be scared of, but I keep thinking 'how much should I write? How much detail should I go into? What words should I use for the...you know. Bits.' and then I do something else instead.

Film some movie! Woop woop. Yeah well, we didn't get any of the Boffo script filmed but that's mostly because hardly anyone showed up and then my new printer wouldn't print the Boffo logo.

Have a bath. Yes, but my Mum called and I had to get out a little early. May have to have a make up bath tonight. Can't believe how cold it is!

Take photos of self in onesie for online sharing/humiliation.... photos are on facebook.

Eat salads! (Had two yesterday cause I am so good.)

....pass. Oh wait, I had potato salad on Saturday! And um, waffle salad yesterday.

Practice swing with Lee so that we get some exercise.

....this one also did not get done but I had an attack of the 'can't be bothered's yesterday afternoon and retreated into a duvet and Gilmore Girls season seven. I will try and get some practice in tonight, Lee willing.

So, not too bad all up.

Another busy day at work, although I got to peer interview someone which is good fun.

I am reading Maddigan's Fantasia by Margaret Mahy which was also made into a TV series and I'm battling it. On the one had I'm not enjoying it that much and it is frustratingly drawn out and overly episodic, so much so that I can pinpoint where TV eps end and begin. But on the other hand it is a compelling universe (post apocolyptic future meets Carnivale but for kids) and I do kind of want to know what happens and it is somehow comforting to read. Maybe it's because I've read so much Mahy in the past.

I'll probably finish it, since I am over half way through now, but I really wish I was reading a much better book. Like maybe Ironside again.

In Rock Band related news we're unlocked Rio, Rekyavek, Tokyo and Sydney and I am now obsessed with a band called Coheed and Cambria whose songs are all set in the world of the writer's sci-fi/fantasy series. The songs are epic and catchy and they are just so geeky I can't resist them.

PoF: cold
CO: cold nose

to do list

For this weekend.

Make myself some pants from a tshirt so I can wear 'em to swing dancing.

Write some more and type some more.

Film some movie! Woop woop.

Have a bath.

Take photos of self in onesie for online sharing/humiliation....

Eat salads! (Had two yesterday cause I am so good.)

Practice swing with Lee so that we get some exercise.

Tidy house for guests and filmy friends.

I love adding things that I have already done to lists so that I can immediately cross them off. Makes me feel like I'm ahead of myself.

PoF: cupcake eater
CO: cold feet. Why must it be so cold?

Things I love Thursday

I have a lot to be happy/thankful for this week, so let's take a look at my list.

->Swing Dancing lesson two was awesome! I really enjoyed it heaps and the best thing is that Lee enjoyed it too and is happy to practice with me at home. We learned the basic six count step, (rock step, shuffle 3 step forward, shuffle 3 step back) and the right hand pass and the right hand pass into closed. I'm very good at twirling! Slightly less good at picking up on the Lead's signals, but I put that down to poor signaling from the lead! Once again I found the partner swapping* to be invaluable. When you are dancing with someone who has it (be they taxi dancer or newbie) it is easy to improve!

->Onesie PJs. Well, you know how much I love PJs, pretty much my favourite items of clothing are PJs. Yesterday I went to get Lee a new razor from Noel Leeming and went into The Warehouse on a whim. They had onesie pyjama suits in polar fleece in adult sizes! For a measley 30 dollars! I chose a pair immediately (white with multicoloured hearts dotted about on it) and came home and discovered ultimate comfort. If you ever come around on a Sunday you know what I'll be wearing.

->Rock Band has been loaned to us for a week and I'm really enjoying having it. Must be braver about using the guitar because I can probably do the bass line on higher levels than easy.

->Days off all to myself Tuesday was brilliant. I got so much done and I relaxed and I re-energised myself. So good.

->Pretty images I found this page of all the Annie Liebovitz covers for Vanity Fair's Hollywood issue here. I just love her work, she makes everyone look awesome. I love looking at the clothes and picking the stars that I like and....they're just beautiful.

Honourable mentions also go to: My darling Lee, hand quilting while watching good TV and movies, friends and their babies, pretty pretty patchwork fabric and wearing my legwarmers under my jeans for maximum warm.

Please do share the things that you are happy about this cold cold Thursday. Either in the comments here or as your own blog post. I love reading about what other people love!

Love love love love.

*Well, what would you call it?