It's days like these when you realise that there's just no helping it, the only solution is to eat porridge in the bath.

I have been chosen to represent Australia as part of a team of six, in a competition to develop a complete website for a not-for-profit organisation in 24 hours (from 11am Tuesday 12th of May to 11am Wednesday 13th of May). INTENSE.

The competition organisers will be flying me to Sydney from Perth (view on map - that's ~3291km / 2045 miles!). I also have my food and accommodation covered for the two days of the competition.

I don't know if I will be able to get the time off to stay in Sydney longer, so that I can catch up with other people post-convention, but I'll try. It seems like a good opportunity to do so, if time and money will allow.

...:D

...EXCITING.

...ALL-CAPS.

(My only concern is that I'm actually the designated manager of the team, but I think everyone on the team is older than me! Which could potentially be awkward. Will try to handle everyone as respectfully as I can.)

View the cut below for SILLYNESS

( ARE YOU THERE )

Maybe you had to be there. WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE?!

...
...
...

Karl has brought me an ICE-CREAM.

I use DEVOUR attack.

It is... SUPER-DELICIOUS.

Sassamifrass: bringing you deep and meaningful pants since 1983

I'm nearly finished re-reading the Fruits Basket manga by Natsuki Takaya for the nth time. I may need to re-purchase some of the books later on - I'm going to wear them out! Maybe I should get the hardcover versions.

The series never fails to enliven me. Like all my favourite stories, its key focus is change - recognising that it is inevitable, and necessary.

( Spoiler-free thoughts )

If anyone sees the hardcover or other non-standard Furuba releases... I may be in collector mode... with all that money I don't have.

Everything I can remember right now. Everything good. Everything bad.

I'm glad that I've been a part of it.

Maybe it's just the peppermint tea talking.

Edit for tangent: karlski is popping into my study every few minutes to share facts about anti-matter, x-rays, relative speeds and space warfare.

I like being here.

Here looks great.

It turns out that I am the sort of person who bursts into giggles when all the air pops out of their spine.

Saw a chiropractor today (one of my latest attempts to get rid of my insomnia) and when he snapped my neck to one side I couldn't repress the giggles that burst out immediately afterwards.

Maybe it was the funny popcorn noises my neck made as it was (professionally) yanked to one side.

Maybe it was a reaction to having something that you'd expect to kill or paralyse someone in a movie have no noticeable ill effect. I LIVE, BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Apparently he has another patient who does this. A large, muscular man who looks a bit like a bouncer. His neck gets popped, and out come the manly giggles.

In other news, Scitech got involved with April Fools' Day this year in order to promote the International Year of Astronomy.

The last two weeks I've been fairly unwell, and it's amazing just how much your perception weakens in that state.

Health has improved the last couple of days, and I've also had the two best nights of sleep in a row I've had in at least 18 months, despite having to get up at 4am each time.

It is amazing how fantastic everything in the world seems to be when you have 5 hours of solid sleep behind you (I normally get 4-7 hours of very broken sleep). Everything is wonderful, wonderful!

Drinking peppermint tee at night seems to help with sleep a lot, even more than hitting the chamomile. Counter-intuitive, but working for me so far. So there's a tip for you sleep-deprived types out in the interweb.

Also, I am really enjoying beta-testing Likaholix - an online community based around what it is people like about the world. If you'd like to join the beta, I have five more invites to give out.

Presents for you. At midnight. SNAKE. SNAKE. SNAKE FIGHTING. LIFE.

He learned to stop worrying, and also, to love the bomb.

I WOULD LIKE TO ADD THAT SPACE IS REALLY BIG.

I have never seen Friends but I think that if this episode existed it would be the crowing moment of awesome.

I need to stop clicking on things now.

"I have 15 things to do at once, all of them annoying." - quote from first episode of Babylon 5.

I've just gotten halfway through the first season of Babylon 5. Never watched it before.

I'm really enjoying it! There's so many layers of plot and side character development, so many nice little touches, like a character reading a book by Harlan Ellison, and the personality quirks of the ambassadors. Aliens with a sense of humour (and plenty of sarcasm) = awesome.

Sure, some of it is rather heavy handed, but I can forgive that. There's some great gritty moments, great politics. Stuff like (paraphrased);

"Wow, that bioweapon killed an entire civillsation! Sucks to be them! At least no other civillisation will be dumb enough to use something like that."
"Hi, we're from Earth Defense Force. We'll be taking that weapon. For defending Earth. Bye!"
"Dagnabbit!"

All the ambassadors have the greatest indignant noises. Ambassador G'kar is definitely my favourite character. So grumpy! So smug! And Garibaldi is Space Vimes! He catches the Space Criminals. In Space.

I also love how frequently the second in command enjoys Not Helping.

"Why did you help me?"
"Because I can."
"That's not a reason."
"Yes it is. It's just not the one you expected - or wanted."

*walks onto the internet playing Auron's Theme (or for those who do not fear FFX spoilers, this version with moving pictures)*

"You place too much trust in your magicks!"

...wait, I'm too tired to be awesome right now *dissolves*

Also, I am being stared down by a can of sweetcorn.

Unrelated: I found something cute

So. That is how things are right now.

I didn't get picked to be on the jury for any cases :-(

I think I was the only disappointed one. No one else seems to like jury duty! I guess I'm just eager when I'm given a free chance to be judgmental. BA DOOM CHING (Yes, it's ANOTHER trap. Yesterday's worked so well.)

Two nights ago I dreamed that two men were drowning in the ocean. Two people on a lifeboat nearby attempted to save their lives. They managed to pull in the closest man, who beat at them with his remaining strength and cried out for him to save the other man, not him.

Then after a few minutes, he began to dissolve/fade away.

Turns out that he was a time traveler, and the other man was his younger self.

The dream then performed many timeskips both backwards and forwards, presumably as the protagonists (I was not in the dream; just an observer) tried to fix what they had done.

I'm tempted to develop this into a simple game or short story. Hah, I don't need imagination, I'll just use my DREAM CHEATS.

It is very short (for me) and reminds me of Rin's hair (from the Fruits Basket series) which is an unintentional awesomeness.

See my new hair. There are some other angles and a before photo in that gallery also.

I feel like I just Took A Level in Badass. (Don't click the link... IT'S A TRAP. This website has eaten my brain. Repeatedly. And my system memory.)

It's nifty.

And tomorrow? Jury duty! I'm looking forward to being a badass of the law. Or at least sit in a wood paneled room for hours idly twiddling my thumbs and waiting to be called to a case, which I'm told tends to be the more common experience.

Edit: Due to news.com.au shuffling images around in their galleries repeatedly, my links no longer go to the correct images. Sigh! Check out the koala and super-adorable possum in this story, though!

Friends overseas have been asking me about the fires in Victoria, and I think the best way to get your head around the scale we're talking about here is to view this gallery, or look at the satellite views and interactive maps Universe Today has linked to.

For some idea of the sheer height of the flames: A tree before the flames, truck amongst flames, smoke billowing over the grass, truck against the huge clouds of smoke.

If you want to help via donation, the places to go are the Australian Red Cross and Wildlife Victoria (many native animals need rehabillitation and rescue from the fires, like this Sugar Glider, and many of the animal shelters have burned).

The photo that speaks to me the most out of all of those taken from the Victorian bushfires does so because Karl says this is exactly how my face looked as I sat outside the house after the firemen arrived.

I am determined to try to pass on as much goodwill as I can after all the kindness I have been shown after our fire.

I'm still broke post-fire, but I've donated magical-credit-card-money and I've organised with one of the other ladies at work to buy some Cadbury fundraising chocolate to stuff coworkers with over the week. There is also a fundraising BBQ on Valentine's/Batman Day.

Speaking of which, I have recieved doubles of some things from everyone's kind donations (a spatula or two etcetera) so I'll be putting up a list later to see if anyone else needs the extras we have. Still behind on thank you emails.

Time for bed. I'm counting my blessings, and hoping the survivors in Victoria recieve just as much assistance and kindness as we have.

Shaun Micalleff is one of my favourite Australian comedians. karlski and I have been re-watching old comedies from while we were growing up, and last night I watched one of my favourite Micaleff sketches of all time, featuring his recurring police constable character.

I couldn't find that sketch on Youtube, but I did find another of his other policeman sketches, plus my favourite sketch from his "David McGhan" persona. Take a look, they are very silly.

( Watch the videos )

Never fails to crack me up. That said, his work over the last five years outshines a lot of what he did in the 90s, amazing stuff, but that policemen sketch will always be one of my favourites :-)

It has been three weeks since the fire today, and still very few repairs have been performed.

( It's pretty bad )

All that aside, the rest of the house is lovely. Having a single bed as a supplementary couch is great; so comfy to laze around on. The fruit trees in the back yard encourage a lot of native birds to frolic about in the mornings and evening. Street is nice too, even with the occasionally noisy bogan-age.

The neighborhood dogs really could afford to stop barking for five minutes though, I mean seriously what are you barking at, there is nothing there, there is the same amount of things happening as there were five minutes ago, do you ever stop barking, seriously my dog is not barking at all, what is your problem, I would think now that your lungs would shoot out of your mouth by this point, this is ridiculous do you want me to get an ultrasonic whistle or maybe just go crazy will you stop it I am going to fill my ears with peanuts.

I've just been pointed to FESA as a useful source of information regarding protecting your homes from fire. Developed for Western Australians but also applicable to the rest of the world.

If nothing else, this PDF on where to place fire alarms in the house is a good idea. Along with creating a home fire escape plan.

Apparently in another few months it will be illegal to sell or rent out a home without a mains-powered fire alarm installed. Just a bit late for us, sadly.

I'mlooking into what I can do for the local volunteer firefighters in Kalamunda. I was a total klutz when I did fire training 5 years ago, I was the only person unable to put out flames in the training barrel thingy, but maybe I can help in a way that does not require co-ordination.

Still to get back to people's comments and email; I'm trying! Time is short.

Apparently some repairs will be done to our house next week, which is good.

The World Ends With You continues to be a totally fantastic game (Progress: Beat, Day 5) and thank you very much to pinneagig for giving me a Player Pin :D Cheapest cosplay ever! :P

Can't wait to start eating fresh foods again. Eating mostly preserved carbs and such due to our lack of cooking facillities post-fire has made me put on a chunk of weight in the last 3 weeks.

On Saturday, karlski and I finally shared the bottle of honey mead we had been given as a Christmas present. We originally intended to drink it to celebrate the first day together in our new house, but unsurprisingly the fire delayed the celebration.

We toasted the new house (this time without flames) and it felt as though we were finally really making a beginning - as if the dramtic events prior to this had merely been the prologue.

Losing so many "things" has been difficult, but when they are gone you realsie their true value is far less than you might have believed when obtaining them.

What is most valuable to me is what is in my head. That, and the interactions I have with others that lead to enriching my own knowledge, enjoyment and understanding of the world.

Entropy will always claim one’s possessions sooner or later, but actions can never be un-taken, unless a particularly clever form of time travel is discovered.

Kyoko should be coming home this long weekend, if all goes well.

No real repairs have been done on the house yet, but hopefully they will start soon.

We're walking a fine line financially but we will be okay. We are very grateful for all the people who offered to help us this last week :-) The terracotta curtains are beautiful!

I'm so sorry I'm behind in emails and comments. I went back to work last week, which was very demanding! Too tired in the evenings to turn on a PC, plus I have spent many of those evenings visiting my cat. I will try to get back to everyone very soon.

We have made a lot of time for rest and recovery, and I think this year I will spend a lot more time on such things than I have traditionally. I'm always rushing, but these events have made me want to slow down a little and appreciate the details.

Oh wow, these Equation Bookshelves are fantastic. I need to learn some basic woodworking so I could make some for karlski. Particularly as his Maths Clock from akshoslaa was one of the things destroyed in the fire.

Having a mathematician as your beloved is fantastic. There are so many awesome presents you can give them!

I think Karl was trying to save me some stress last week (big surprise there) as it was only this morning that he told me that the firemen said that if we had not had the kitchen door shut it is quite likely we both would have died from smoke inhalation in our sleep.

Apparently people don't tend to wake up when breathing in smoke fumes, particularly when they have such a high plastic content (the fumes, not the people... personally speaking, I'm mostly water, don't know about you).

I feel slightly less awful about locking the cat in that part of the house now, because shutting that door may have saved our lives. I'm so glad I left the window open for her to breathe through, too, otherwise she certainly would have died.

Kyoko (my cat) is recovering well, still a little weak and unwell, but much more like her old self now that a week has passed. Her welfare has been the most upsetting part of this whole thing for me, so I'm glad she seems to be healing.

It may be some time before the fire ceases to feature prominently in my posts, I'm afraid.

Here's a few pictures for those curious about the blaze:

( Wow, the place is already decorated )

Direct link to the Picasa photo album

Photographed with my mobile phone, so they're not amazing quality. These were all taken after the clean-up, it was worse initially x_x

Internet access should be more reliable soon, I'll try to get back to the emails and such people have sent as soon as possible.

So it turns out that the file containing every award I ever won, and every academic recognition, and every hand written reference, was in the centre of the blaze.

I apologise for the following sentence;

My grades were just too hot to handle.

Oh yes. I went there.

What upsets me most is losing all the poetry and general writing awards.

Consider this my message to myself to get off my sooty backside and start entering competitions again. To fuel my next fire ;p OF ACHIEVEMENT.

Take that, setbacks. YEAH.