Keep on truckin’

Walking isn’t glamorous.  And it certainly isn’t exciting.  Ally seems to like it though.  Me- not so much.  I feel like we are certainly into the boring part of our quest.  We aren’t fresh faced adventurers anymore.  We’ve lost that fire in our bellies.  It’s all about putting one foot in front of the other and just keeping on going, knowing that one day we’ll get there.

I’ve worked out that if we do 31km a week, that’s how we make it.  That’s made it a little easier, working it out weekly, as opposed to daily.  On the days where I work 12 hour shifts, I tend to beat myself up over the fact that I only did 2km in the morning (or sometimes none!).  But this way, it doesn’t matter because even if I don’t do my daily total, I can always make it up on other days when I have more time.

So we’re back on track!  I think SURELY we must be near Rivendell!  Maybe it’s in sight??

Pic via here

Upon studying my notes, I have actually breezed past Rivendell!  It is 732km away from Hobbiton… and I have now walked a grand total of 779km!  So- Elvish dinner at Rivendell coming up :)

Bree to Weathertop

This is the bit in the movie where those scary ghosty things catch up with the gang- because some of the hobbits decide to sit on the top of a hill and cook dinner- basically lighting the way for the ghosty things.

I got there a month or so ago, I didn’t post about it at the time.  It means I have walked 387km.  For dinner, in homage to the movie where they are cooking bacon and sausages, I decided to make one of my faves- pigs in a blanket!  However… they turned out looking more than a little phallic so I took a photo to send to my friend and then I deleted it off my phone, haha!  They tasted great though.

I went and visited my dad in Middle Earth aka New Zealand.  I walked his dog and snapped this picture.  His dog Jack is just a pup and isn’t built for massive walks (PLUS I WAS ON HOLIDAY AND IN LAZY MODE!) so I only ended up doing a short walk with him.

Our next stop is Rivendell and from all my research, it seems like those elves like leafy vegetables.  Gross.  Not looking forward to that meal!

It is now a quarter of the way through the challenge and I am WAY behind!  Winter is well and truly here and by the time I leave for work in the morning, the sun is only just in the sky.  Which means I have been terribly slack in walking my dog.  BUT winter usually means that I start taking up running so that I can exercise and not have to be out for as long.  Instead of 45 minutes to do 4km of walking, it takes 25 minutes.  And running tires Ally out a ton! 

I have become really bored with our usual walks.  And I’ve only been in this area a few months.  I’m trying to find new, fun places to walk.

Walking to Mordor… I made it to Bree!

Well I started this Walking to Mordor challenge.  I sadly relied on Internet intel and thought that if I walked 7km a day for a year, I could make the distance in a year.  When I worked it out for myself, It’s more like 8km.  And I started halfway through January… so basically it’s not going to happen.  But instead of packing it in like I normally would, I am going to keep going.  Considering I have to walk my dog every day anyway, I might as well keep a track of all my kilometres.  We do about 4km every day so I set a new standard of trying to reach Mordor in two years instead.  Sorry Frodo and co, you guys walk too darn fast!

And so I made it to the first stop.  From the Shire to Bree which is 218km.  And because I’m food motivated, I wanted to celebrate each milestone by having a special dinner that is representative of each place.

I FORGOT THAT I HAVE ACTUALLY BEEN TO THE START POINT OF THIS ADVENTURE!!!!  Here is a picture of me at the actual start point… Bilbo Baggins’ house in Hobbiton.



Bree is the town where the hobbits stop in at the pub, The Prancing Pony.  So I decided that a pub meal was in order.  I cooked sausages and mash and washed it down with a ginger ale.  I really should have had a pint of beer to be TRULY authentic but beer is gross.  The sausages were a special pork and apple sausage and were so yum!

(Do mashed potatoes ever look edible in photos??)

I have also decided to start an instagram for this challenge.  Why?  Why not?  It will mainly be selfies of me and my dog.  And maybe some scenery and the animals that we bump into.  WHY SO MANY WATER DRAGONS?!?!?!  So follow walktomordor for all your trekking needs…

Walking to Mordor

I decided on a new New Years Resolution.  I usually have vague ones like “Be Happier” or “Be More Assertive” but I found this one a few days ago and I really love it.

(And yes I know that this gif is from The Hobbit!)

In The Lord of The Rings, the distance from Hobbiton in the Shire to Mordor to drop off that pesky ring is 2683km (or 1779 miles for the others out there).  If you walk about 7km a day, in theory you will walk that distance in a year.  This was all worked out thanks to this site.  It’s old but some of the links are still clickable if you want a look.  I can’t imagine how much work it took to figure this all out, so thank you!

I’m trying to walk my dog more.  She is an active girl and we go for one big walk a day, but I’ve noticed she is much more settled and content on those rare occasions we get to go for two walks.  So I think this will be just the thing to get me out the door for that all important second walk of the day.  I won’t be adding any of my “steps for the day at work” or anything like that, the only kilometres that will be logged are when my Fellowship of Two go out together.

PLUS, because I have to make it even more goal orientated to keep myself interested, every time I reach a major point on the “map”, there will be a food party!  Because I have always identified with those hobbits for a reason after all!  The first stop will be at The Prancing Pony at Bree… in 218km!!  Oh dear, we only did 6km today and Ally and I are a week behind to start with. 

I have tried before to read the Lord of the Rings series but didn’t make it.  And I struggled through The Hobbit which is a KIDS BOOK!  But I feel like I would get a kick out of reading more into it.  And from what I remember, Tolkein loves describing Middle Earth scenery so it’ll be cool.  And since I’m not walking the whole way (just to Mount Doom), it’s ok if it takes me a year to read the first book (and a bit).

And to finish…

Yeah I know, Sean Bean.  But these fools are going to try!

(Terrible selfie taken into the sunlight)

Start As You Mean To Go On

I think that’s excellent advice for the first day of the New Year.  I get so excited and hopeful about new beginnings.  I am one of those people who do that tradition where you fill up a mason jar with nice things that happen to you throughout the year and then you open and reminisce on the last day of the year.

This year was different.  This year I was sick.  I had barely been able to keep my eyes open at work and then when I went home, I ate chips for dinner and then went to bed at 9.  I woke up in 2015 feeling much better for having slept through the night.  But still full of a cold.

But I had plans.  And I got to spend the first day of 2015 with friends and having fun.  Doing the important things.  Illness be damned!

I drove to see my friend Danielle, who lives only about an hour away from me but that is really far away when you are both grown ups and have to schedule hang out times.  We exchanged Christmas presents.  And she got me a One Direction advent calendar (because I will always be a tween at heart) and most importantly, a Doctor Who necklace.  She made me pizza which we ate before heading to the cinema.  Unfortunately the session to see The Hobbit was all sold out but we brought a ticket for the next showing in two hours time.

So we had two hours to kill.  We went to a cafe and on the way bumped into a friend of Danielle’s who I have become friends with thanks to social media.  It was one of those weird things where you meet someone who you have never met but it’s totally cool and you act like you’ve met each other a billion times.  We hugged like old friends and her husband was a bit confused that he had no idea who his wife’s clearly very good friend was.  I explained succinctly “We’re friends from the internet”.

It was a very cool moment because we’ve tried to meet up before but the plans have always fallen through, usually at the last minute.  And as Danielle pointed out, if we had gone to the original session of The Hobbit, we wouldn’t have met her.  So that made the meeting all the sweeter.

Danielle and I went on to the cafe and talked about lots of things and resolutions.  Important things and not important things.  All the sorts of things that you can talk about with best friends.

And then we saw The Hobbit and it was far too emotional.  I keep thinking about it at points during the day and feeling the wind go out of my sails just that little bit.

I drove home far too late and hung out with my dog, who is the best.

An excellent day and I hope to have many more like that this year.

I got a dog

On the 8th October, I went down to my local RSPCA.  I took my friend Tara who is a vet that I work with.  She was going to be my voice of reason and stop me from getting carried away ie getting a Great Dane or getting an 8 week old puppy.  Spoiler alert… she failed miserably but I’m so happy she did :)

There were a few dogs that I liked the look of but nothing really stood out.  I really, really wanted to walk away with a dog.  I was going to have five days before heading back to work and that was going to give me enough time to settle the dog in- so in my mind, it had to be that particular day.

We had another walk around the pens and spoke to a volunteer who was making polite conversation.  She said that “Jules” was an absolute sweetheart and pointed at a cage that we had passed but assumed was empty.  I peered in again and a face with big eyes peeked around the corner of her kennel.  It was love at first sight and her tail wagged cautiously.

There were two other dogs that I wanted to have a look at but they are irrelevant to the story.  Jules was brought out to a nice open space to say hello but she was absolutely terrified.  It was suggested that we should maybe meet her in her pen instead.  We all went back inside and I crouched down in the corner and she went and hid behind me.  She snuggled into me while peering out from behind me at the other two people in her pen.

It was the fact that she seemed to recognise that I was her human and that I was the one that was there to protect her that sealed the deal.  And she had a fluffy beard like a wolfhound which is a breed I would love to have but can’t due to the size.

Tara murmured “You don’t think she’s too big..?” but I was getting carried away and nobody could stop me. 

As we signed the paperwork, I had a moment of “WHAT HAVE I DONE?!” but I quickly tamped that down.  When we walked her out of the animal shelter, a large guy was walking towards us.  The way the dog had an absolute panic at the sight of him confirms to me that she was mistreated. 

She continues to be incredibly nervous around people but especially around men.  I’m like “Same, girl.  Same”.  She’s a bit of an introvert and will take herself away from a crowd if she’s had enough.  But usually she isn’t found too far from me.  And I realise that this is because she has separation anxiety, something I don’t want to encourage, but I secretly love it when we meet a new person and she snuggles into me, like a toddler when forced to meet a new person.

I renamed her Ally and she is unbelievably the wrong dog for me.

Our very first selfie together!

She is the most slobbery dog the world has ever seen.  Luckily no shoestrings of slobber though.  The beard was the thing that drew me to her, the beard is now the thing that I hate.  If she’s nervous (which is quite a bit), she pants excessively and the drool collects in her beard.  If she drinks water, the excess water collects in her beard and drops all over the floor.  If she rests her head on me, there is usually leftover drool on her beard which is transferred to me.  I hate it!!

She is a young boisterous big dog.  I should probably give her two big walks a day.  With my work schedule, I can really only manage one big walk a day.  And that makes me feel incredibly guilty.  If she was a different dog, I would hire a dog walker but at this stage in her life, that is not an option as she would be absolutely terrified.

I wanted a big(ish) dog because I like to go for runs when it’s early and often dark so I’d like her for, at least the appearance of protection.  Realistically, If there is someone coming towards us that she doesn’t like the look of (ie everyone), she cowers and sometimes stops in her tracks.

Her stupid tail really hurts when it wags.  Because she always seems to be standing right next to me, I get whipped by her tail.  And it really really hurts.

She frustrates me to no end.  Like when I come home and she has chewed something to pieces.  Or when I took her outside to go to the toilet and she didn't;t do anything but then came inside and did diarrhoea all over my housemate’s white carpet.

However…

In her moments of fear, there is no aggression.  I have seen the sweetest animals turn into feral monsters because of fear.  There is none of that in my dog- and that makes me really proud of her.

She’s smart.  She doesn’t pick up any of the useful commands I try teach her, like ‘come’ and ‘heel’.  But she very quickly picked up ‘wave’, which she does with such goofy enjoyment, that I just love to make her do it.

You haven’t witnessed joy until you’ve seen her bound after a toy.  Or the lamb-like gambol that she does when we go for runs and she has to make a leap for the sidewalk.  Or the way she throws her toys (that she has lovingly nibbled all the stuffing out of) about and then pounces after them.  She has the weirdest quirkiest personality and I love getting to watch it shine.

She went and sat in the pool up to her waist by herself… just because.

The way she just oh-so-casually gets up on my bed when she knows good and well that she is only allowed up when she has been invited.  And there is no sneaking up when you are nearly 30kg big!  I’m like “Dude, I noticed”.  And the way she just rests her head on my bed when I wake up, like ‘'oh boy, you’re awake.  Hey, do you think I could get up now??”  Her tail starts wagging and the look in her eyes, you can totally tell that she’s smiling.

I went to the bathroom, and she was sleeping on her mat on the floor beside my bed.  Came back to this lady-like display.

When we’re sitting at the dinner table, she is big enough to nudge your elbow as you hold your knife and fork.  Just to remind you that she’s there… waiting… all night if she has to… in case you wanted to give her something a bit extra.

And how good she is with other dogs.  She loves bounding around and being goofy and jumping all over every dog and racing around like a loon!  And if another dog is grumpy, she just drops and rolls over on her back and goes “whatever, you’re the boss.  I’m just here to run around and have fun.  Smell ya later”

Ally and her BFF Bandit, Tara’s dog.  Dressed up in our work uniform after a big run outside.

So yes, Ally is a pain.  But she’s my pain.  And in the two months I’ve had her, she has come forward in leaps and bounds.  We went to our first obedience class today and she was a STAR!!  I know it’s because she wants to please me and make me happy, and you can’t ask for more than that in your dog.  I can’t wait to see how she turns out in the years ahead. 

To Ally’s previous owners… I don’t know your story, Ally was found as a stray.  You never came forward to collect her.  Maybe you didn’t care that she was missing, maybe you dumped her, maybe you searched and searched but never found her.  Thank you for taking care of my dog while she was a puppy.  Thank you for teaching her how to sit and shake paws.  I will always be grateful to you for taking care of my best friend for me. 

Daybook ii

Trying to get back into blogging.  It aches a little to stretch these weary muscles so let’s start out with a nice exercise stolen lovingly from a friend.

Outside my window, I live right by a train station and they are doing some form of track work.  There is a lot of machine noise interspersed with the workmen yelling to each other.  I can’t make out what they’re saying but there’s a lot of bantering and laughing.  It’s probably a good thing I can’t hear what they’re saying, actually!  The weather has finally turned into something resembling winter.  Overcast skies and temperatures requiring jeans and hoodies.  My feet are a teensy bit chilly though.

I have been listening to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.  I just adore Grace’s voice and I love their music.  It’s kinda rock, kinda bluesy and it’s great to turn up loud.  They recently came to Australia as support act for John Mayer and I was gutted that I couldn’t see them perform as they didn’t come anywhere near my hometown.  A song I come back to again and again is this one called ‘Timekeeper’ as I love the lyrics and can 100% relate to the feelings.  Here is an acoustic version performed by Grace.

I have been wearing mainly pyjamas.  My roomie is away for a while so I have been home alone and therefore, pyjamas.  Although to be real, I still wear PJs all the time when he’s here too. 

I am thankful for animals.  They are the best.  The love they have for humans and the way they show it just makes my world go round. 

I am pondering why my upcoming holidays are causing me more stress than pleasure.  Like, I know, I know… first world problems.  But seriously, why can’t I just enjoy the thought of my holidays instead of having stress dreams. 

I am reading a biography of Caterina Sforza (written by Elizabeth Lev), who was an Italian noblewoman from the 15th century who amongst other things led her own troops into battle.  This is the first biography I have read in years and it’s a bit hard going at the moment because my brain’s just not in the zone, despite the author’s best efforts and the awesome subject matter.  So to temper that, I’m also devouring “Dragon’s Blood” by Jane Yolen.  This is about a poor boy who works in the local dragon stables where the fighter dragons are kept.  It’s a lovely read and just what I need to balance out some world history.

I am creating an Irish chicken stew with dumplings.  I am very haphazardly creating it so it’ll be interesting to see if it is as tasty as it has been in the past.  I went a bit crazy with the dumplings, as they’re obviously the best part and I added WAY more than I normally would, so we’ll see how they are!  It’s bubbling away on the stove and has been for the last few hours.  It’s making me so hungry because the house has smelled of chicken soup for hours and I haven’t been able to eat any of it!!

And since writing that… my dumplings took over and took away all the moisture.  So there is like no soup in the chicken stew.  But it still tastes good!

A picture-thought I'm sharing is of my first little plant that I planted recently.  I am surprised to find that I quite like it.  The plants are not enjoying their slow, laboured demise but hopefully I can get better at not killing them.

Reverse Bucket List

This is a cool idea that I discovered over on Amanda’s page.  It’s a great way to think about what you’ve achieved.  As explained on this other page, it can seem like a brag list, but I’m sure you guys can appreciate this idea for what it is: a list of cool things that you have ALREADY ACHIEVED!  Sometimes I spend so much time thinking worrying freaking out about the future and how much stuff I should be doing, that I forget to look back and go ‘hey, I have done a bunch of really cool stuff and that should be celebrated”

1) Met some random off the internet who turned out to be one of the best friends a girl could want

2) Visited NYC and successfully navigated it

3) Decided to move overseas by myself and actually did it

4) Met a celebrity and told them how much their stuff meant to me (<— excruciatingly embarrassing and awkward for both of us, but how many chances do you ever get to do that?!)

5) Got my vet nursing degree- guys, I don’t do science and I did it!

6) Assisted in a dog caesarean and resuscitated puppies to life



7) Saw Britney Spears in concert- front row, baby!

8) Watched something I wrote get performed onstage

9) Ran 10km

10) Participated in Hogmanay celebrations in Edinburgh

11) Watched a meteor shower

12) Made disgustingly yummy baked treats successfully

13) Went to Stonehenge

14)  Watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy in an entire day

15) Made a Queen’s Royal Guard laugh (by accident because I am a dork)

16) Worked (and danced!) in a bar on a Greek island over the course of a summer

17) Been to Disneyland

18) Wrote a letter to myself to be opened in ten years time- and I waited and read it on the correct date!

19) Completed NaNoWriMo

20) Graduated university

On a side note, I am currently compiling my ‘30 before 30’ list and it’s been really fun.  I know I’ll be doing lots of travelling in the next year or so therefore I am putting a lot of big ticket items on the list.

Meet Laddie

He is a 15 year old cat that started off life as a stray cat.  He was taken in by a man called Brian.  Brian took him in and has loved him ever since.  Brian loved Laddie a lot.  He would feed Laddie steak and he would eat lentils.  When he would bring Laddie in to our vet clinic, he would chew your ear off about how much this cat meant to him, how the cat was ‘his best mate’.

Brian died a few days ago and his niece brought Laddie in to us.  She said that Brian had told her that if anything happened to him, that we would do right by him and Laddie.  Which of course tore at our heart strings.  The niece was unfortunately unable to take Laddie back home with her and asked us to get Laddie fixed up and as ready for adoption as he could be, as she was going to have to surrender him to an animal shelter.

Whilst the animal shelter promised that they wouldn’t put Laddie to sleep, I don’t think they could 100% give their word.  It is a reality that Laddie isn’t the most rehomeable cat and it’s a sad fact of life that the space that they would give to Laddie could be given to at least two kittens who would be easily rehomed.  (Sidenote, please be responsible pet owners!!)

My boss tentatively asked if we wanted to keep him as a ‘clinic cat’.  It’s quite common practice for vet clinics to have a cat or two that just roams around.  I have been at my job for three years and pretty much those entire three years have been spent campaigning to have a clinic cat.  I nearly hugged my boss when he asked us that question!

Internet, this is Laddie.

He has lost one eye due to illness.  The other eye is very big and shows his fear.  He is very skinny.  He purrs when I stroke him but I can’t tell if it’s because he likes my touch or whether he is purring due to stress.  When you pat him, huge flakes of dry skin come to the surface of his coat, which is lank.  He is a very old man.  He walks with stiff back legs due to arthritis.  Realistically, he only has a year or two to go. 

And I want those last years to be so happy and filled with love.  Even though since working with animals, I have become jaded with the whole ‘animals know what we’re saying’ schtick- yesterday Laddie and I had a moment.   When I picked him up to give him a cuddle (which he sits through patiently), he fixed me with a stare with that one eye and he licked my nose.  I like to think he understands..

I’m basically a professional writer

A few weekends ago, I met up with Danielle to go to a workshop all about writing radio dramas.  We weren’t sure what to expect but we turned up eager and ready to learn. 

There were maybe 15 people there and we were the youngest by twenty years, if I’m being generous.  Thirty years, if I’m being honest.  Also, everyone already had a short piece that they wanted to workshop.  So I know that I definitely felt like I started off on the back foot.

I’d love to go indepth about the workshop because it was really great and I probably will at a later date.  Our favourite thing about it was that there were two actors who came along and would read snippets aloud.  It was amazing to see them perform.  There were bits that they read that looked so flat on the page that were absolutely transformed when you heard the actors speak aloud.  Also they were super cute and Danielle and I fell head over heels in love with them.  I fell particularly for Bob, who was just so rad.

Picture from Danielle

After the Saturday session, Danielle and I went back to her place, slightly panicking because we didn’t have anything to show.  I still wasn’t sure what was going to happen at the Sunday session but we knew we didn’t want to go back without at least a first draft of a short radio play.

So we spent a frantic half hour writing our pieces.  Then Danielle wanted to introduce me to ‘Primeval’, which has now become my new obsession.  I think we watched about three episodes and then we worked on our pieces for another 15 minutes before realising that we should just quit and watch some more ‘Primeval’.

Look how cute and British this cast is!!

The next day, we turn up and everyone has already printed out their pages for the actors to practice and read aloud- which we have not.  Again, we start off on the back foot.  So we eventually get out pieces printed off and we “hand them in”.

Lunch time comes around… and we decide to bail.  It’s been a long morning of listening to first drafts of plays and well, there’s Primeval to watch.  And I do need to leave fairly early because I have a long drive back.  So we make our apologies and leave.

Flash forward to the present day.  And last week, Danielle texts me to say that the organiser called her to ask for her permission for the actors to use her script that she wrote for their actors’ workshop!  So cool, right?!  Then a few days later, she texts me to say that they would like my details because they would like MY script too!!  Heheheheheh.  I basically fell over on the floor, half laughing at the ridiculousness, and half out of shock.

AND WE GOT INVITED TO THE SUNDAY PERFORMANCE OF THE ACTORS WORKSHOP SO WE MIGHT GET TO SEE OUR PLAYS PERFORMED!!!!!!!!!!!!

My piece centres on an old man.  I used Bob as my muse as he was just the best and I thought he would be awesome in the role.  AND THEN DANIELLE TOLD THE ORGANISER LADY THAT BOB WAS MY MUSE!  Apparently it took them a while to track me down because they assumed one of the older men who had attended the workshop had written it.  Nope, just that young girl in the corner. 

I just had a thought.  Maybe Bob will be at the actors’ workshop.  I will keep you updated.  CAN YOU IMAGINE IF I GOT A PICTURE WITH HIM?!

Jen Kirkman and the secret treadmill self

One of my favourite podcasts is “I Seem Fun: The Diary of Jen Kirkman”.  It consists of Jen Kirkman, sitting on her bed and talking.  About whatever she wants.  And singing too.  Lots of singing. 

I really like her.  Really, really like her.  And I hope to see her when she comes to Australia for the Melbourne Comedy Festival.

That’s right.  I am willing to travel to Melbourne for you, Jen Kirkman.  Having gone to uni in Sydney, there is a rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne so I have always enjoyed saying that I have never even visited Melbourne (even though secretly I think I would like it very much).

We are also friends on twitter.  She retweeted something I said.  And she favourited another of my comments.  So yeah.  We’re basically BFFs for life.

I actually don’t know what her stand up is like.  I’ve seen bits and pieces on youtube but I don’t think you can tell what someone’s act will be like from three minutes on youtube.  But what I’ve seen, I like.

But I really like her from what I have seen heard on the podcast.  I like hearing stories from her childhood (which makes me sound creepy!).  I like hearing what she says to people who diss her.  And I like adding them to my own repertoire.  Not that people diss me, but if they were to- then I would have some great things to say to them.  I like that she is someone who is open and honest about not wanting to have kids.  You don’t hear a lot from people who don’t have kids and I love hearing her talk about it.  It’s really nice to hear someone actually talk about it and for it to be ok.  Don’t get me wrong, I love me some kids… but the thought of actually having them?  I don’t know if I would be a good mum- and THAT IT IS OK.

And I want to buy her book and get her to sign it for me. 

Anyway, that was a long preamble to what this post is really supposed to be about.  There was something she talked about in the last podcast I listened to.  About how she really liked the new Britney single ‘Work bitch’ and how it was a good song to listen to on the treadmill.  And I found it super awesome that I transcribed it because, why not?

“You can’t always hang on to who you are every second of the day.  I feel like whoever you are on the treadmill, that’s a whole different person, that’s like this other weird side of you.  People who bring their treadmill self into the real world are the boring ones.  But we can have secret treadmill selves, right?  Once the sneaker and the sweatpants are on, what are you going to do?  Read an intelligent book and listen to smart music?  That’s when it’s time to get dumb.  Throw a magazine on, anything to get through it.  Songs that are like *air raid signal music*, it’s just like ‘yes, put me in a trance’.  I don’t want to think about what I’m doing”

I am always so embarrassed about what I listen to when I’m exercising.  So this is a safe space, right?  I listen to a mixture of Glee covers, Beyonce and, the thing I’m most embarrassed about… videogame soundtracks.  Like, the epic music that plays during a battle.  That way I feel like I’m in a training montage about how badass I am.  Which is so far from the truth.

So what does your secret treadmill self listen to?

That time we hung out with Miss Marple

I’ve always loved Agatha Christie.  My family and I inherited a room full of books when we moved into a house. We knew the previous owners and they always said that they would come back and collect the books… and they never did.  The house belonged to their mother who was an avid Agatha Christie fan.  We have a LOT of them.  And so, as a bored young thing, I would read them too.  I never quite “got” Miss Marple though.  I read her introduction in a set of short stories and she wasn’t someone that I wanted to spend time with.  She was a fussy old maid and yeah, she solved crimes but that wasn’t enough to keep me interested.

It wasn’t until late last year that I decided to give Miss Marple another go.  I started reading some more of the books that involved her and realised one huge thing.  Miss Marple didn’t come out of Agatha Christie’s brain as a fully formed character.  It seems like Agatha Christie was still deciding what she wanted Marple to be like.  Nor is the character particularly consistent.  Miss Marple starts off as a prim shrewish spinster lady, and in some books she is really genuinely eccentric and ‘fluffy’ as she is often described.  But other times she is so shrewd and wonderful and only pretends to be eccentric when she needs to fool people into telling her secrets.  And it is this version of Marple that I fell head over heels in love with.

It is also the type of Miss Marple that is the current version on television so I am rather spoiled.  It was also the version that I happened to see in live theatre when “A Murder Is Announced” made its way to my home town.  I had originally brought tickets for my mum and I to go and see it but mum had planned to go to NZ during that time, so I offered the spare ticket to someone else.

Hey Danielle!!  Who else would I rather spend a few hours with watching a Miss Marple play than the friend who I spend an awful lot of time obsessing over BBC dramas with?!  (And she lets me steal her instagram pics for me to use on my blog)

We dressed up even thought it was a matinee, hung out a bit beforehand and went for dinner afterwards.  It was so much fun.  I know I say this every time I go into the city and see a show but I really REALLY need to do that more often. 

Internet Shopping Whilst Intoxicated

This is something I hear about but never thought I would actually do.  I’m not really a clothes and shoes kinda gal so I assumed that I would escape this ‘cultural phenomenon’.

However, it was not to be.  I arrived home to find a parcel on my desk.  I frowned at it.  I hadn’t brought anything online recently.  And then I saw the stamp on the parcel and the synapses wriggled in the back of my brain.

That name conjures up to me the Oxford of the 20s with Lewis and Tolkien so what did it have to do with me?  And then I laughed.  Because I *did* remember buying this present for myself.  I was tipsy enough at the time to think, “I probably won’t remember doing this.  It’ll be like a present from Drunk Laura to Future Laura”.  And for half a second it was!  And then I recalled what it was and I eagerly opened the parcel.

Lookit!!!

His name is Wallflower.  I can hold him nicely in one hand.  He is a replica of a gargoyle that can be found slightly hiding on the wall of the Divinity School, Old Bodleian Library.  And he is so, so beautiful.  The craftsmanship is gorgeous.  And I want to have him with me at all times.  I wish I could have a charm of him to wear around my neck.  He is just the most beautiful dragon.  I seriously can’t stop stroking his cheek.  He makes a beautiful desk companion.

The Sunshine Award Pt 1

I got an award from a fellow blogger!  Here we go:

The Sunshine Award is a lovely way for bloggers to recognize and celebrate each other, spreading sunshine from blog to blog.  The Sunshine Award was started by Matt Renwick, an elementary principal in Wisconsin (@readbyexample).  Here are the rules Matt lists in his post:
1) Acknowledge the nominating blogger.
2) Share 11 random facts about yourself.
3) Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
4) List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve recognition and a little blogging love.
5) Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer.
6) Let all the bloggers know they've been nominated. You may not nominate the blogger who nominated you."

Mine was given to me by Abigail who can be found over here.  I can’t remember how we met online but I am so glad that we did!!  I love reading her blogs and honestly they are one of the reasons why I keep coming back to blogging.  Her posts are real and funny and a lovely sneak peek into her life.

So without further ado, here are 11 Facts About Me

1) I just got back into reading and it is the BEST!!  Like, where I read every night.  And sometimes, sometimes, the book is too exciting and I say to myself “just one more chapter” and then the next thing I know, the book is finished and it’s 2am and I have to be up in four hours.  It is delightful.

2) I just brought my very first dress-up dress.  I have always been so jealous of people who can make outfits like this and I love the idea of dressing up for an event but have never done it.  And then it hit me like a lightening bolt.  “Fool!  You can buy it on the internet”.  And so I did.  And then I brought another dress.  I don’t know why I need two medieval outfits but apparently I do.

3) My memory is getting really, really bad.  To the point where it is becoming a little frightening.  My mum who really does have the worst memory is telling anecdotes about me and I don’t remember them happening!

4) If I ever were to get a tattoo, this is what I would get.  I only discovered the picture recently but it sent off a light bulb ping in my brain.

5) My new favourite animal is a pika.  Look how freaking cute they are?!  They live in Yellowstone Park (amongst other places) but I would love to visit the park to see one in the wild.

6) I love travelling and I haven’t done it in a while.  I think this year will be the year of travel. 

7) Sort of continuing on from the previous point, I have recently decided to try and embrace my singleness, instead of constantly worrying that I’m not married with a baby on the way and a house.  I am actually in a pretty awesome position.  I am of an age where I can do whatever the heck I want, I earn money and I don’t have any ties to staying in one place. 

8) I had a weird OCD as a kid that I still have as an adult but it’s not so intense now.  When I would eat food, the first bite would have to be chewed on the left side, the second bite on the right side and so on.  It got to the stage where I would only eat even amounts of foods, like two biscuits as a snack or if I got to the end of dinner and my carrot sticks amounted to an uneven number, I would leave one.  I still do it now subconsciously but if I have an uneven amount of food, I just divide the last thing in half, therefore making it ‘even’.  And I still favour ‘right side’ and ‘even numbers’ over ‘left side’ and ‘odd numbers’.  I know.  It’s weird.

9) Oh hey, you want more weird facts about me?  I dry heave at even the thought of someone brushing their teeth.  I have no idea why.  Three things are gross: the sound, the smell and the FOAM.  Even writing this is making me curl my upper lip in disgust.  I am MUCH better than I was due to having to live in dorms at uni and having communal bathrooms.  But it was a rough few years.  People want to have CONVERSATIONS WITH YOU while they are brushing their teeth.  And the foam is running down their chin.  And now I have to go and throw up.  It’s such a weird quirk.  I apologise.

10) If I ever get to have a dog, I would love to have either a Northern Inuit or a Groodle.  Northern Inuits because they have been bred specifically to look like a wolf and are the breed that plays the direwolves on Game of Thrones.  I spent the majority of my childhood yearning for a pet wolf.  I wasn’t allowed a pet dog, so obviously baby Laura decided that the next best thing would be a pet wolf….

Groodles (or goldenddodles as they are known in the US) look like a freaking Jim Henson puppet.  How could you resisit?!

Unfortunately I work in the animal industry and I couldn’t in good conscience get a pet that has been specifically bred for its looks when I know there are thousands of dogs being put to sleep because nobody wants them.  So I will end up with a mutt from the pound.  Who I will love with all my heart.  But they will be the scruffiest thing you’ve ever seen!

11) I LOVE DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  But not being in it.   Which is why I love reality shows, I know, I know, they’re terrible, but it’s the only way I can experience drama without being involved.  The one time I knowingly passed on gossip, it got back to the person that I was the one to pass on the gossip and it was AWFUL!!  With reality shows, it looks real but I think we all can admit to it being actually really fake, therefore I can enjoy the cheating scandals and the fights because I know it’s not real.

Movie Times

I work odd hours which means that I get a weekday off.  I love getting all my errands done when the shops are a little quieter and parking is a little easier.  But mainly I love going to the movies on a weekday.
There’s something decadent about going to the movies on a weekday, with your popcorn and coke whilst everyone else is stuck in the drudgery of work.  Because it’s a weekday, more often than not, I see movies by myself.  This is actually a bonus because it means I get to be nosey and see who else has time off during the working week.  And then coming up with elaborate back stories for them all.

Today I saw August: Osage County.  It’s based on the play of the same name and somewhere in between the twentieth monologue I realised that it probably works better as a play.  However, I do like a good speech or two, I enjoyed it all. 

It’s about a family coming together for a reason that I won’t spoil.  And anyone who has ever spent an extended period of time with their own family, especially as one gets older, will recognise the frustrations and resentments.  And I think everyone could see a bit of themselves in each of the characters.

It’s a very dark, dark comedy.  I read a review that said that the movie was a lot more mean spirited than the play because with the medium of film, you can get right up close to someone and see the expression in their eyes as they say a hurtful line and you can see someone’s expression of pain as they react to it.

But that’s not what I want to talk about.  I want to talk about the audience.  Normally there is only a handful of people in the cinema with me, but for some reason, this cinema was FULL to the brim of women, ranging from middle-aged to old.  I was probably the youngest one there.  It was quite an odd experience because all I heard during the movie were the noises of women reacting.  Usually an audience is made up of equal men and women, and the laughing noise is lower because of men.  This movie, there was a lot of giggling and cackling- and it was really nice!  This movie is about women and it was fun to hear women reacting to that.  And this particular group of women were very reactive.  A sweet moment abruptly cut short was met with “oh no!’s” at several points across the cinema.  And a huge bombshell that was dropped encouraged a collective gasp from the entire cinema.

As a cinema goer, I tend not to react aloud to things.  I’ll laugh along if it’s funny but that’s about it.  But there was something in the air in that cinema because I gasped along with everyone else at that moment. 

It was a fun experience, sitting alone in a cinema but feeling part of something bigger.

My Top Ten Movies of 2013 Part 2

Pacific Rim

If you twisted my arm, I might whisper that *this* was my favourite movie of the year.  A shallow reading of the movie would reveal that it is about giant robots fighting giant monsters and destroying cities in the process- which are ALL of my least favourite things combined into one movie.  But this movie is so much more than that.  This movie belongs to MAKO MORI who is the bee’s knees.  She is a female character who wants to avenge her family’s death and who manages to do so.  She has a love story arc that is played out so sweetly AND THEY DON’T EVEN KISS AT THE END!  THEY REST THEIR FOREHEADS TOGETHER WHICH IS INFINITELY BETTER!  Her love interest thinks she is the coolest person on the planet (which she is) and you’re supposed to think the movie is about him, but even HE doesn't;t think the story is about him.  He’s all like “Yo!  You should be watching Mako Mori instead because she is rad!”.  Then there’s Idris Elba playing s stern authoritative figure in uniform.  And well, I could watch Elba read the phonebook so to get to watch him make a “We are cancelling the apocalypse” speech is even better.  And there are kooky science guys.  And terrible Australian accents that made the audience in my (Australian) cinema start laughing- both times I saw the movie.  AND WORLD BUILDING!!  Such good world building, you guys.  SUCH WORLD BUILDING!!!!!!!!!!!

About Time

I feel like nobody else saw this movie.  Except my dad who pestered me about twice a week for a month until I saw the movie.  I’m not a Rachel McAdams fan but because I adore Richard Curtis (the writer), I was willing to give it a try.  This movie tricks you into thinking that it’s going to be about romantic love but it is ALL about family love.  I dare you to watch this movie’s final scenes without a huge fat lump in your throat.  Just try.

Thor 2: The Dark World

THIS MOVIE!  Ok, so, I’m actually not that big a fan of the first movie.  I’ve only seen it once.  It didn’t grab me.  But I think this movie took all the things I liked from the first movie (parental angst! Darcy! Idris Elba!) and gave me more of that.  I still feel like Jane Foster is more a plot device than a love interest in the Thor world and I would be much happier if she went off and did rad sciencey things without Thor.  But I digress.  This movie belongs to Tom Hiddleston who again, I would watch read the phone book.  Loki is such an amazing character that it bums me out that this is a Thor franchise and not a Thor and Loki franchise.  The movie passed by in a blur of enjoyment.  And the end scene credits where *SPOILER* the big monster thing that has been left on earth is prancing after birds like a giant big cat, is 10/10.

Doctor Who: The Day of The Doctor

Oh hey.  Just casually sneaking this in.  Thought you might not notice that I’m putting a TV special into my ‘Top Movies’ list.  Well I did see this at the cinema and I have the ticket stub to prove it.  I hadn’t realised just how much I missed Tennant’s Doctor and watching him and Smith go head to head was everything I didn’t know that I wanted.  The cinema was full with fellow Whovians and I dressed up as the TARDIS and it was just fun. 

 

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

I saw this two days ago and I’m still reeling from it.  It was everything I wanted the first installation to be.  It trickled merrily from scene to scene, plot point to plot point.  Nothing felt like it could have been cut out, whereas I think in the first movies there’s quite a bit you could cut and still have a great movie.  The star of the show was undoubtedly Smaug.  I have a major dragon love and it’s so easy to do crappy dragons, even if you have lots of money so I was very eager to see Smaug.  And he was everything a dragon should be: beautiful and terrifying, charming and absolutely cold blooded.  And of course it helps immensely that he is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch.  I can’t imagine anyone else doing justice to that dragon. 

And I just have a lot of feelings about the dwarves and that little hobbit and the events that will unfold.  And there were things in this movie that made my little heart twinge as I thought about what will happen later on down the road.  But yes.  Smaug forever.  I can’t wait to see the movie again!

My Top Ten Movies of 2013 Part 1

I kept all my ticket stubs from the movies I saw and these were my favourite ones.  Placing them in the order that I saw them in rather than “best” or “favourite” because that’s impossible to choose.

Silver Linings Playbook

I really liked this movie about two broken people coming together and working on a project that helps them (somewhat) sort through their issues.  I thought Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both shone so brightly in this.  I saw this on a miserable rainy day and the audience consisted of middle aged women who clapped loudly during the dance performance at the end.  Despite the matters that the movie deals with, it made me really happy.

The Host

I had absolutely no interest in seeing this one.  All I knew was that it was Stephenie Meyer and that was enough for me.  But then I saw a trailer and I thought “ooh, interesting plot” and so I roped a friend into seeing it and we were both pleasantly surprised by it.  I thought the storyline was interesting and it posed some really quite deep questions about what is good and what is evil.  There was a fantastic fresh take on the tired old love triangle of teen romances and I thought the movie did a great job of world building, which- if you can build me a convincing world in your movie, I will always give you the time of day.  If you let this movie pass you by because of the Twilight connection, I think you should give it a chance.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I have been very grateful to JJ Abrams for his Star Trek reboot.  I am too afraid of the immensity of the Star Trek canon to delve into the TV shows and I have enjoyed that the film series has given me a window into the Star Trek world, without having to sacrifice hours and hours of my time. 

Seeing this on the big screen, you realise just how blue and dreamy Chris Pine’s eyes are.  Which is pretty much worth the price of admission alone.  I saw this movie twice at the cinemas because of Benedict Cumberbatch wearing a long coat I enjoyed it so much.  I really like the “world” of Star Trek and I enjoy the characters.

World War Z

So apparently this movie was absolutely panned by critics and audiences… I don’t know why!  I don’t think it’s any worse than any other action/horror movie ever made.  I CRAZY enjoyed it!!  I sat on the edge of my seat most of the way through it, especially at the end when I chewed through most of my fingernails!  I did get sidetracked by thinking about how darn jetlagged Brad Pitt would be as he flew around the globe, chasing the zombie trail.  But it was really fun and isn’t that what movies are supposed to be?.

The Way Way Back

Oh man, I really loved this movie!  I think I might be one of the only people who saw it but it was so sweet and funny.  It’s a coming of age movie made be the same studio that did “Little Miss Sunshine” and “Juno” and it’s definitely in the same vein of those movies.  So if you liked those, you’ll like this one.  Sam Rockwell takes a great role in this, as does Steve Carell who is thoroughly unlikeable.  And you know how much I love him. 

Fresh Start

I neglected my old blog something shocking so I thought I would cut ties with it and start afresh.

I started this one up because I am trying a new journey into positivity.  To paraphrase myself, my friend Kristy and I are always talking about how we’re going to make stuff happen.  Invariably we fail.  But we have a new plan and I really and truly believe that it might work.  And hope is good.  We have called it “2014: The Year of Making it Happen”™. 

Yeah, that’s right.  I trademarked it.

So I’m hoping that this blog will be an honest look into the year that comes, and all that follows.

I want to join a local archery club and have joined a few groups through meetup.com.  Who knows if I will be brave enough to actually turn up, but I felt like I’d achieved just as much by signing up than I did if I’d actually gone!

Not to mention two weeks in the US at the holy grail of San Diego Comic Con.

I will probably just talk about movies I saw and books that I read. 

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