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tielan: (PacRim - Mako)
Friday, June 6th, 2025 03:23 pm
1. Have you ever been to summer camp?

No. But 'summer camp' is not a thing here in Australia the way it seems to have been in the USA. There were camps, yes, but they were very directly related to school - a week is the longest that I remember and I was 12. After that, it was school excusions, yes, or band camps, and a couple of times Beach Mission (yes, literally, Christian mission in the middle of summer at a beach).


2. Have you ever made a s'more?

Yes! Back visiting some friends in upstate NY in the early 2000s when their sons were just born. Her family had a holiday house on a lake and we went and stayed there, and they taught me about making s'mores.


3. Have you ever slept under the stars (no tent/tarp)?

Possibly, depending on how you take it. I've slept on a wooden porch, huddled up with a bunch of other people. We were doing an "all nighter" purely for the sake of doing it. It wasn't fun.

Actually, wait yes, I have slept under the stars. At a 'B&S' (Bachelors' and Spinsters' ball) out west, in the tray of a utility truck. We'd tossed a bunch of mattresses in, and there were about a half-dozen of us all sprawled out to sleep after the ball. It wasn't terrible. We were young, and that makes a difference!


4. Have you ever had a member of the opposite sex sleep over at your house?

Only after I became an adult. House-sharing in Sydney means you have housemates who have all sorts of people staying over.


5. What type of bed do you have (queen, twin, bunk, etc.)?

Twin. I had a queen-size at our last house (and had a queen-size pretty much since I was 24) but when we moved out into this place, there wasn't space for a queen-sized bed, so I downsized to an IKEA twin with an under-bed storage space. And, as it turns out, the queen-mattress fitted sheets fit on the twin-size when you have a super-thick mattress.
tielan: bsg logo (BSG)
Friday, March 1st, 2024 02:48 pm
Watching the Netherlands' entry for Eurovision 2024: Europapa by Joost Klein. Apparently it has more German lyrics than Germany has ever sent out for the last 17 concerts.

--

The post-match interviews for the Matildas' game were hilarious.

Katrina "Mini" Gorry - midfielder for the Matildas and also West Ham FC - has a daughter Harper who is 2 years old and made the squad announcement for the Olympic qualifying games. She was also at the post-match media conference and kinda stole the show, prompting Alanna Kennedy (Matilda and Manchester City FC fullback) to comment to the newsies: "Sorry, I'm not as cute as Harper."

--

Dr. Glaucomflecken is hilarious and entertaining. So is the Fire Emergency Guy (the bald one).

--

Also been rewatching clips from BSG 2003. I'd forgotten just how twisty that show was - a dozen twists and turns - so many that sometimes it was impossible for me to remember which way the story had gone and who was doing what.
tielan: (Default)
Thursday, May 11th, 2023 07:53 pm
Tired and lethargic. Not enough sleep? Inhaling weird things? Just emotionally exhausted?

It's not drafty in here anymore and the heat stays once we get the heater on, but the weather's turned cold and so it's still pretty cold when we don't have the heater running. Also, right now everything's a bit empty because we moved everything out, so that probably doesn't help the heating.

Trying to sort out storage solutions, but getting B1 to be involved in them is the current problem. She doesn't like the cloth boxes I got. She'd like some hard file-like ones. And so begins the hunt for file boxes that fit in a KALLAX or EXPEDIT. I mean, we could do with a few more of those in any case.

--

Saw a really good twitter post that recommended we call them 'neural networks' not 'artificial intelligence' because they're not 'intelligence', artificial or otherwise and, frankly, stupid humans just don't comprehend that.

--

Permie group isn't going so well. I think we burned a few committee members out and scared a few more off, and the current President is, well, not great at peopling. Great at environmentalism, but she can be a wee bit daunting.

--

The number of Twitter posts I type out and then delete per day are legion.

--

Last week's [profile] friday_five:

1. What is your work/school commute like?

Right now, it's WFH almost all the time, so it's really easy. Up and across the corridor!

When I have to go in to the office (in the next city over) it's a 5am start out the door. When I used to work in the city, it was a 6am start to reach the city by 7:30 so I wasn't in the middle of rush hour.


2. What did you want to be when you grew up? Has it changed?

A writer. No, it hasn't really changed. I still want to be a writer, but I think I missed the window for becoming an author (the last two decades) and now with neural networks (AI) all over the place, I think it's unlikely.


3. What is your weirdest work/school/project related story?

I don't feel like I have any interesting stories. If I think of one, I'll put it in the comments.


4. What is something you're closely familiar with that media always gets wrong?

*snorts* I've been in IT for nearly thirty years. One learns to handwave movie tech. Like, seriously, HANDWAVE.

Also: Australia, Australians, living in Australia, the whole lot in fact!


5. Describe the stuff on your desk/workspace.

A simple table, I've had it for 25 years, chipboard, but solid enough. A laptop in the middle of it, screen on a pedestal, mouse, sound system - USB 'mice' whose heads lift to show the speakers - a gift from an uncle...ten, fifteen years ago? A fluoro light with a bendy neck to the right shines up on the yellow wall - 'Gold Rush' is the paint shade according to Dulux, and beneath it are a zipper bag made by a quilter with a bunch of pens in, my TA-DA! sewing bag, a couple of bags of dried fruit, and my bar of 85% chocolate. A pile of scribble papers are to hand on the left, along with an empty water bottle, a Stanley measuring tape, two tooth floss dispensers, and the 'switch' for all the devices so I can swap between my personal laptop and my work laptop.
tielan: (Default)
Friday, May 5th, 2023 10:52 am
[community profile] thefridayfive

1. Would you ever go "under the knife" (or laser, or dental pick) for cosmetic purposes? What and why, and would it really be worth it?

Cosmetic? Probably not, mostly because I can't think of any situation in which it would be worth it to "look better".

2. Describe your dream home, including location, design, and who/what’s in there with you.

Probably more or less the house and neighbourhood I'm living in, only properly sealed against drafts, the floors filled in and polished, with more storage space above the wardrobes and the kitchen cupboards, a 'cool room' storage space, and a nook for B2 to be stashed in when she comes over.

3. You have one month to travel the world, all expenses paid. Where do you go and what do you do once you arrive?

...only a month?

Look, I'd do my planned trip for later this year, but if "all expenses paid" is just for me, I'd offer to drag some friends out to meet me (pay their tickets, food, accom, and wages - preeeeety sure it'd be cheaper than the cost of my trip!). And if "all expenses paid" can be stretched to cover friends...COME JOIN ME PARTYING IN EUROPE!

4. What scares the bloody heck out of you? Would you face it down if someone paid you? What’s your price?

Dying slowly and fully aware of the process. More than anything else, I want to die fast or utterly unconscious. I'm not sure I have a price on this; maybe someone else's slow death? Someone else's life? But, no. A slow death is a hard pass for me.

5. And of course, you’re stranded on an island. What five simple items do you have with you? How do you survive? Anyone in particular you’d like to be stranded with? What would they bring to the table?

The permie in me wants to know: what kind of island? Tropical? How large is it? Is there any arable land? What kind of trees/building materials are there? Look, Australia is "an island". New Zealand is two! Tasmania is "an island", so is Rottnest, Kangaroo, and Tangalooma. Heck, so is Greenland. None of them are tropical.

Five simple items: 30m of UV-resistance plastic rope, a metal bucket, a decent-sized pocketknife, a wooden-handled hacksaw from pre-1930s (renovated), and a 5m x 5m canvas tarp.

The 'simple items' would be a starter for a shelter, water, and food.

People I'd want to be stranded with: probably my fellow permies, pragmatic people that they are. And the ones that I know are old enough to be self-aware and (I think?) mature enough to recognise when we need to co-operate and when we need to go our separate ways.

--

It's been A Week and I feel like I got nothing done.

This weekend, I'm going to finish the windows. Painting, sealing, the whole deal. Somehow. Luckily it's a quiet one.
tielan: aussie flag background with 'aussie aussie aussie' overlay (aussie aussie aussie)
Friday, June 10th, 2022 08:03 am
If you were dictator of your country, what would you do?

basically amounts to 'reinstate socialist democracy' )


What could you do a 40-minute presentation on with no (or very little) preparation?

"What I'd Do If I Became Dictator of Australia."
tielan: lorne (Angel - Lorne)
Friday, October 2nd, 2020 02:38 pm
[community profile] thefridayfive; switched around for the past winter.

1) What did you plant?

Sydney's a 'warm temperate' climate, our winters might drop to 0C, but most things can take it. So I planted a lot of 'winterveg' from an Aussie POV: broccoli, peas, daikon radishes, beetroot, rocket and mustard and lettuces, cabbages, garlic...

It's all doing pretty well, considering that the winter wasn't quite cold enough to give the broccoli or cabbages a head. We got some broccolini and I'll have to work out how to make a nice pickle with the cabbage leaves...

2) What was your favorite summer winter food?

I don't think there's anything that quite beats my mother's stewed pork with yam. We had that for my sisters' birthday a couple of weeks ago, along with other fond favourites...and a beautiful butter cake with buttercream icing to finish off!

3) What song will remind you of this summer winter?

I don't think I have a song for this winter. Maybe anything by the Holderness family who did some amazing filks early on in iso. Haven't seen them in a while, though.

4) What was your favorite body of water to be in?

Since it's winter...the bathtub! Only a couple of times during the winter, though, and mostly when the muscles ached too much from hockey/gardening.

5) What's been your favorite outfit?

I have very much like the tracky-daks and hoodie combo. It worked while unemployed, and then even once employed but working-from-home, it was still good. Except now I don't know that too many of my work clothes fit anymore...
tielan: (SGA - team)
Friday, June 9th, 2017 03:48 pm
From [community profile] thefridayfive community on DW (spotted through [personal profile] ringsandcoffee).

1) What was the first recipe or food you learned how to cook?

This is actually pretty difficult, because I can imagine the kitchen of my childhood house - old brown-tiled floor with brown cement grout between (a bitch to clean), the lime green laminated benchtop and cupboards (holy 70s decor, Batman!), the black wire grill over the gas stove...

I remember learning to cook there, I just don't remember what...

Mostly, I think, it was cookies and biscuits. Cakes - chilled cheesecakes that my mother excelled at. She's an amazing entertainer, and the dinners with her and my stepdad are spectacular.

2) What recipe or food did you cook most recently?

Chicken pasta bake on Wednesday night. I made a big dish for a friend's family (she's recovering from day-surgery that turned into a three-day stay at the hospital) and a smaller dish for my sister and I.

3) What recipe or food do you cook most often?

Spaghetti bolognaise sauce (mince, onion, garlic, tins of tomato puree, sugar), or roast chicken (lemon, rosemary, garlic).

4) What is your favorite recipe?

Isn't that like proverbially asking a parent which one is their favourite child?

5) What is the recipe you make that impresses other people the most?

I don't know. Either the pavlova or the port wine cheesecake? (Honestly, it's just packet jelly with a jelly glaze; if you decorate it fancy, then it looks amazing and tastes excellent!)