Smoky Hobart

Well we've had a week of bushfires all over the state, especially up on the East Coast, where a few town lost homes and buildings. I don't think any lives were lost though. But on Wednesday, the smoke over Hobart was crazy. Here's a pic of the city, taken from Huon Road at 7:30 pm (sorry it's badly joined up, but I don't have software on this computer for fixing things like that). Anyone who's seen Hobart from this road will know this is a crazy amount of smoke - normally those hills are as clear as day - can usually see all the houses and streets on them.

Here's the mountain from Huon Road. That's usually pretty clear, but not on Wednesday.

Here's a smoky sunset.

And the Mountain again.

Happy Birthday to Me...

I'm 20 today... Can't blame anything on being a teenager anymore (I wanted to be really naughty this week, and blame it on being a teenager, having never really taken advantage of this excuse before, but I forgot to...) On the up side, I'm only 1 year off being allowed to drink in America now.... Because that's so important to me!

Do I feel older? Well I feel one day older than yesterday, and yesterday I was only 19.... Just a number....

Herein be there dragones

Or perhaps dinosaurs? Went for a bushwalk (slash bushbash) up on Mount Wellington today with a group of friends. We went to the Lost World, a fantastic area full of caves and views of Hobart. The track is supposed to be a loop, but it kept on disappearing, so we were forced to bushbash for a large section of the return journey, Was a lot of fun, quite satisfying! But I don't feel tired yet, have had 2 hours of dancing since then, Heth was a bit dead, but it hasn't hit me yet....

Here's Hobart, at the bottom of the pic, with the Derwent River and the Eastern Shore. You can also see past that, although I actually don't know how far you can see...!










Here's a bit further across, with the Tasman Bridge, and the looming clouds over the city (we were blessed in that it didn't rain at all, and the only thing we had to contend with was a bit of wind).









Ahh, the wonders of modern technology!













The Crew at lunchtime.













Isn't that a pretty bit of sunshine on Heth? Down in one of the caves at what we hope was the Lost World (there weren't anysigns, but we think we were in the right place!)











Not a very friendly photo of Matt (really, he's not that mean) but this was the first cave we looked in!










Ruth, Sam and Em in a cave...














Don't look so unimpressed Em, you're in a big cave!!!











Dani, Matt, Heth and Mark doing some rock hopping....

Children of Men

Went to see Children of Men today. Go see it. I thought it was fantastic, made really well. It was directed by Alfonso Cuaron, the director of the most recent Harry Potter, and has a similar dark atmosphere. The use of humour to lighten and highlight the desperation is perfect. I can't say how it compares to P.D. James' novel, although I intend to find out soon!

Clive Owen plays Theo, a former activist, living in 2027 when all women are sterile. The world is going insane as a result, with the government handing out suicide packs and anti-depressants. Theo is put into the situation of feeling obliged to escort a miraculously pregnant woman (Claire-Hope Ashitey) to a safe haven.

The scenes of the refugee city are especially poignant when one considers the war-zones of today, and part of the power of the movie is that this 2027 world is so similar to our world today. Cuaron does not distract the audience with unfamiliar technology, the little that we see can be recognised as simply a more advanced version of today's technology.

I was a little confused at times about who was fighting whom, but I think it was the government fighting the rebels standing up for the refugees (anyone not a British citizen is forcefully removed from Britain).

Go see it. It is a violent at times, but not to be would contradict the position of the world at the time.

Here's a pic of the bridge I took at the Hobart Regatta this year. I need it online so I can use it on as my heading picture!

Well exams are finished

Holidays have begun! Hoorah, hooray! Had my last exam this morning, which was great, especially since I left quite early.... Saw Little Miss Sunshine today, which was hilariously funny! GO and see it, espcially if you need some relaxation! Don't take it seriously...

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Imagine - the Bush Remix

Here's a YouTube video worth watching. Imagine - The Bush Remix

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Why the change?

It's quite a long story really, and you may be a little disappointed that I haven't changed the appearance or anything, but come back in a week or so, and I'll have hopefully changed everything around, including blogger systems.

Blogger has created a new system for the blogs, and apparently everyone will have to change over soon, so I was looking into it today, and it all ended in me thinking I like this web name more.

Jabbering = well, I do talk a lot, Fool = what human is not a fool?

So, I'll leave you all for the moment, while I work out beta.blogger and backup all my old posts, just in cases...

God Bless,
Imo

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Susan's links!

Here are some funny things Suse's sent me recently, thanks!! Thought I'd share the laughs! And no, they're not all pc!!

Why men die before women

How you know you're living in 2004

Errors of Genetic Engineering

The importance of punctuation

Biff from Back to the Future answers some questions...

Top Ten Women Drivers of the Year

My personal DNA

Well there you go, I'm a Benevolent Inventor... Who knows if it's accurate, I disagree with some of it, but that's just my own perception of myself compared to others - who knows, perhaps it's right and I just do things differently to others.... Personal DNA

I'm sure there was something I was going to write about, need to start planning my blog on my hand again... It's gone though, hopefully I'll remember it again before too long...

Portable Film Festival

Click here for losta really weird but cool short free films. One of my favourites, out of the few that I've watched so far, is Soap Opera. Hands up, Your Betel Nut or Your Life is pretty good too.

These are all movies designed to be watched on phones, iPods etc etc.... Can download them into iTunes and stuff too.... Great idea I reckon!

You have to sign up to watch them, but it's gotta be one of the easiest sign ups I've ever seen!

So go and check them out, great for procrastinating!!!

P.S. Check Maestro out too.

The pretexts are always found in some spacious appearance of a real good.

We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history ... In history a great volume is unrolled for our instruction, drawing the materials of future wisdom from the past errors and infirmities of mankind ... History consists, for the greater part, of the miseries brought upon the world by pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, lust, sedition, hypocrisy, ungoverned zeal, and all the train of disorderly appetites ... These vices are the causes of those storms. Religion, morals, laws, prerogative, privileges, liberties, rights of men, are the pretexts. The pretexts are always found in some spacious appearance of a real good. - E. Burke

Click on the link

101 Uses for a John Howard

Proud aunty procrastination

These were taken at easter, when everyone was down. Look at how much the boys have changed and grown since then!!!! (comparing with the pic from yesterdays' post that is!)






Mum and Rohan (who was smiling at Ashar)














Mum and Rohan












Yoda Rohan











Dad and the crew

















Dad and Ashar












And here's Arrigo, their cousin with Ashar (penguin top), Rose and Rohan. Arrigo is about the same age, but was born at the right time, not 10 weeks early like Ashar and Rohan.

The boys at 6 months

I'm procrastinating in a serious way, avoiding writing my history by doing other uni work (that takes real committment) so I thought I'd share a recent pic of the boys. Aren't they beautiful?

And for everyone who has troubles understanding the Bible (are we gold or clay?):

When the Almighty himself condescends to address mankind in their own language, his meaning, luminous as it must be, is rendered dim and doubtful by the cloudy medium through which it is communicated. - James Madison

Well I'd best be off to keep on reading.... and writing. It's only 750 words, but it's just SO hard!

Kat's off today too... The day after major airport security shuffles. Timing!

I was actually a little bit angry before the start of the game. I thought our haka lacked a bit of intensity and spirit...

So says umpire of the New Zealand basektball team, on their loss last night to the Australian Boomers. I heard him say that on the news, and I hope he was not entirely serious - his tone of voice was ambiguous, but it's a rather funny thing to say...

Well uni's back, I'm looking forward to the next set of holidays already, although it is nice toe be spending time in the Ref sitting with people watching them play silly card game all the time again, while I do my odd German homework about a lady who has to shave her face..... (well you try and decipher the pictures!) I like that bit of uni - the bludging around in the Ref, practising group procrastination.....

Results, yeah, pretty good, I was happy, although I'm not sure they were really good enough for our Advanced Honours co-ordinator (AdHon is the weird thing I'm doing that means I got a good score at the end of school and they want to keep me in Arts as long as possible and make an arts degree look vaguely acceptable. What they don't know is that I'll probably end up doing ArtsLaw, so all their scheming is in vain - I can't do a combined degree and AdHon... Mwha mwha mwha). Apparently I must be 'pretty pleased' with my Law and German results, and my History and English results were 'pretty impressive' as well.... Personally I thought it was the other way around, but there you go.... The trick will be keeping that high praise coming after the next exams.....

Anyway. Life. Yeah. Good. It's there, I'm living, did my first aid course last week, so I'll know if I'm not.

But the main point of this was really just to say THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE THAN WORRY THAT YOUR TEAM'S HAKA IS NOT INTENSE AND SPIRITED ENOUGH........ And I can understand that it's all symbolic and stuff of power etc, but really, the anxiety in this guy's eyes when he said it (and he's American or Canadian, so it isn't a native thing for him anyway).......

Well Done Socceroos!

You made them fight for every touch of the ball. Well done.

(Well I had to mention it didn't I?)

Phew, Kewell's in...

And Australia breathes a sigh of relief. I too was a little worried, although really he shouldn't have lost his temper like that - Germany isn't Australia, they take hooliganism far more seriously than here...

Hmmm.... Apparently there are such things as 'brown outs' and south hobart has been getting heaps lately... Hence the fried mother boards on our computer and printer, sick router and other things that have been going wrong lately - my powerpack that wouldn't charge properly, slightly flickery lights etc etc.... Argh! And now that we've got new houses being built on our street, and electricity coming from Victoria, I don't think it's going to get any better.... I suspect Aurora would say it's all our fault...

And something my Mum said a couple of days ago got me thinking. There has been talk about introducing new rules for wood fires - that the smoke can't be seen 5 metres away or something, obviously trying to get people to go onto electric/more efficient heating, but where's the power for that coming from? With BassLInk it's not as though all our power is clean green hydro power anymore. That really is passing the dirt on...

Cleared out my top cupboard today, that was a bit scary, although i now have a lot more room for clothes - i cleared out 5 shoeboxes of accumulated junk, plus other stuff!

Well I'd love to have something intellectual to say for the end of my post, but i don't, so I'll just stick with a message for my austrian friends

Es ist 'foi' super das ihr endlich aus der Schule seid! Nie mehr Schule! Keine Schule mehr! Hooray! Kongratulieren fuer euere ausgezeichnete Noten! Viel Glueck Bibi fuer August, du wirst es sicher schaffen! Schoene Ferien, habt viel Spass in Barcelona usw! Und ich habe 40/40 fuer meine Aufsatz bekommen!!! Danke Dina! Danke Maria!! Ich koennte dass sicher nicht allein bekommen! Aber ich habe nicht SO viele Fehlern gemacht... :-p Wollt ihr meine Deutsche Pruefungen schreiben?!?

Nutella Nibbles

Here's a good unhealthy study food aid:

Take one piece of mountain bread
Spread with Nutella
Fold bread lenghtways a few times, so it's about 5cm wide
Cut into fingers/pieces
Put in the fridge for a while
Eat!

Yummy!

Some procrastination for you who need that 10 minute break every hour.

They arrested my orangutan.

Throw the paper in the bin game

Silly Walks generator

A very cool bookself!

This is my kind of book shelf! CAVE

But this is so sad. Censorship in Colorado Springs

In other news, i'm officially on swatvac now, so trying to do lots of study....

Kannst du mein Monster halten? Kannst du?

Exams must be coming...

... I feel an insane urge to tidy my room like never before...

Evolution of dance

The evolution of dance

Thanks Clare for this one!

Will take a while to download, but quite funny if you have the time to wait! If you don't have the time to wait, then you're just too stressed and you'll spend the 6 minutes too worried about what else you could be doing to notice that the guy is scarily good at hip isolation....!!

Look at them now!!

Here are the twins, at 17 weeks. Aren't they so cute!!! I think the yawner is Rohan and the smiler is Ashar, but I can't be certain.... They're starting to look alike and like normal people, not the prem boys they were before!!

Hooray Hooray!!

Thanks for this Imo (K)!

Albino Black Sheep

Very cool! Give it some time to load, and it's worth it!