And so this is Christmas....

....and what have I done?
Bugger all really.
Three things stand out for me this year.
1. The Cure. August 12th, probably definitely the best night of the year. Outstanding music and show. Three hours of sheer bliss. Hopefully next year will bring the mighty Zeppelin to our shores. One can only hope.
2. Discovering digital photography and flickr. To say I'm obsessed would be an understatement. I love it! I think I've got a little bit better at it over the year. I've learned most from flickr and from seeing the wonderful work by all sorts of people from all over the world. The object/365 days project (Phone in all his glory) has introduced mt to some great people and kept me well entertained.
3. The people you meet. I've known Shirl for a long time, via the 'net, and it's been great to renew that friendship. I've met lots of new people along the way and am thankful to have done so. Most notably: Janet, Diane, Sheryl, Susan and Susan.
There've been a few tears along the way but mostly it's been a lot of fun. Love you all!
I'm outta here for a week or so. Have a fantastic Christmas and New Year. (And Happy Birthday to Shirl in case I'm not back in time.) Have fun and stay safe.
Catch ya later,
Jules
xxx


 
 
 
 

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Health :: average


2. Tacky :: cheap


3. Heels :: cuban


4. Yay! :: me!


5. Model :: T


6. Gather :: round


7. Best gift ever :: ticket to see Page and Plant all those years ago. Given to me by my sister Paula.


8. Clients :: customers


9. Stomp :: boots


10. Clothing :: keeps one from getting arrested.

from here

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "Light", so here's some light.......

 
 
 
 

Friday Fill-in

1. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
2. I'm looking forward to next week, a whole week off! Woohoo!.
3. JRR Tolkien is the best author ever!
4. One of my favorite old tv shows is Countdown.
5. I'm done with my so-called mates who are at G-Man's factory Christmas party right now while I have to work. I hate them all.
6. The most enjoyable thing around the holidays is not having to work!!!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to the Tav, tomorrow my plans include work and maybe more Tav and Sunday, I want to finish the calendars I'm making for family folk!

Go here to play. You know you want to.

bike adventures

bike adventures, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Silliness in the extreme.

Thursday Thirteen

Pinched this from Madame Snape.....
Thirteen books on my "to be read" list, in no particular order and subject to change without notice:
1. The Curse on the Chosen - Ian Irvine
2. Silverthorn - Raymond E Feist
3. Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E Feist
4. Serpent Bride - Sara Douglass
5. Absolute Friends - John Le Carre
6. The Mission Song - John Le Carre
7. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova
8. God's Concubine - Sara Douglass
9. The Circle and the Cross - Caiseal Mor
10. The Silmarillion - JRR Tolkien (I have the urge to read this again.)
11. Anybody Out There? - Marian Keyes
12. Romanitas - Sophia McDougall
13. Book 12 of The Wheel of Time series, if it ever gets written! - Robert Jordan's estate.
T13

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Interview :: with the vampire


2. Army :: should be disbanded, all of them.


3. Unwrap :: presents


4. Evolve :: evolution


5. Bus :: public transport


6. The real thing :: Come and see the real thing, come and see the real thing, come and see - Russell Morris song from about 1968. Icon of Aussie pop.


7. Streak :: naked


8. Gorge :: chasm


9. Spicy :: tasty


10. Course :: golf

from here

An embuggerance

11th December 2007

AN EMBUGGERANCE
Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early
onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I
expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)

Terry Pratchett

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell. I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

from here

Flickr stats

New feature on Flickr - though it looks much clearer on the actual flickr page than it does here (just a copy/paste job). It takes 24 hours before the stats can be viewed for the first time. Nothing of any great importance, just interesting.

Stats for your account Last updated: 12:33PM, 15 December 2007 EST
Daily aggregate views on your account


View counts
Yesterday This week Last week All time
Photos 194 828 925 21,207
Photostream 24 182 211 4,524
Sets 1 38 44 873
Collections 0 0 0 0
219 1,048 1,180 26,604
Your most viewed photos
Yesterday
Views [Favorites yesterday] [Comments yesterday]
Led Zeppelin - by those who were there. (Thanks for sharing) 78 1 6
Authors A-Z: Raymond E Feist - Krondor the Phone 17 1 7
For my mama! 13 0 5
I love flickr :) 12 0 5
More faves - thanks to all the wonderful photographers out there! 7 0 0
Haven't done one of these for a while..... 6 0 3
One beer and he's on his head. 6 0 1
Olinda Falls 6 0 0
Phone catches up with a few mates 3 0 2
Orange Calla 3 0 0
All photos…
All time
Views [All time Favorites] [All time Comments]
funny sign 348 1 5
Free Burma 275 12 51
10 minutes and 2 seconds of Venus, Mars and another. Best viewed large. 211 6 22
Balancing act 182 13 90
church 143 0 0
Just a little bit of saturation 128 17 101
Red in support of a free Burma 120 8 20
View from a riverbank 119 10 51
Floating 95 3 45
hibiscus 92 0 1
All photos…
Referrers
Yesterday
Visits %
Flickr 160 82%
Search Engines 0 0%
Other Sites 0 0%
Direct Traffic 34 17%
Domain Visits %
flickr.com flickr.com 160 82%
All referrers...
All time
Visits %
Flickr 1,977 85%
Search Engines 2 <1%
Other Sites 16 <1%
Direct Traffic 319 13%
Domain Visits %
flickr.com flickr.com 1,977 85%
flickrleech.net flickrleech.net 5 <1%
bighugelabs.com bighugelabs.com 3 <1%
10.1.1.18 10.1.1.18 2 <1%
gmodules.com gmodules.com 2 <1%
google.com google.com 1 <1%
drewmyersphoto.net drewmyersphoto.net 1 <1%
iloveagoodbook.blogspot.com iloveagoodbook.blogspot.com 1 <1%
images.google.com images.google.com 1 <1%
zytu.com zytu.com 1 <1%
All referrers...
Breakdown of your photos (2,132)
Public
2,132
Private
0
Friends only
0
Family only
0
Friends & Family
0
Tagged
1,947
Not tagged
185
Geotagged
0
Not geotagged
2,132
In sets
1,927
Not in sets
205
In groups
728
Not in groups
1,404
With views
2,051
Without views
81
With comments
910
Without comments
1,222
Favorited
287
Not favorited
1,845

Friday Fill-in (on Saturday)

Fill-ins can be found here.

1. Away in a manger, no room for a bed.
2. Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh.
3. Hark! The herald angels sing.
4. It's coming on christmas ewww, messy.
5. When I was small I believed in Santa Claus, Though I knew it was just an ad for Coca-Cola.
6. That Christmas magic's brought this tale of full bellies and empty wallets.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to it being cool enough to sleep comfortably, tomorrow my plans include *sigh* work and Sunday, I want to get absolutely shitfaced but I probably won't!

Led Zeppelin - by those who were there

Led Zeppelin - by those who were there, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Please make them tour Australia!!

A dick joke :)

The Day the Penis asked for a Raise

I, the Penis, hereby request a raise in salary for the following
reasons:
I do physical labour.
I work at great depths.
I plunge headfirst into everything I do.
I do not get weekends or public holidays off.
I work in a damp environment.
I work in a dark workplace that has poor ventilation.
I work in high temperatures.
My work exposes me to contagious diseases.

Sincerely,
P. Niss

The Response:

Dear Penis:
After assessing your request, and considering the arguments you
have raised, the administration rejects your request for the
following
reasons:

You do not work 8 hours straight.
You fall asleep after brief work periods.
You do not always follow the orders of the management team.
You do not stay in your designated area and are often seen
visiting other locations.
You do not take initiative - you need to be pressured and
stimulated in order to start working.
You leave the workplace rather messy at the end of your shift.

You don't always observe necessary safety regulations, such as
wearing the correct protective clothing.

You will retire well before you are 65.
You are unable to work double shifts.
You sometimes leave your designated work area before you have
completed assigned task.
And if that were not all, you have been seen constantly entering
and exiting the workplace carrying two suspicious-looking bags.

Sincerely,
V. Gina

Thursday Thirteen

Led Zeppelin is in my head this week, so here's 13 of my favourite Led Zeppelin tracks:

1. Kashmir - the masterpiece.
2. Heartbreaker - if only I could play like that. I can do the riff, but the solo....no-one can match the flying fingers of Jimmy Page!
3. Whole Lotta Love - the song that inspired me to learn guitar. Love that riff!
4. Ten Years Gone - moody guitars that suck me in everytime.
5. No Quarter - probably their moodiest song. The vocals are magnificent.
6. In my Time of Dying - one of the many old blues tracks they adapted and made their own. Powerful doesn't begin to describe this track.
7. When The Levee Breaks - the best intro to any song ever!
8. Achilles Last Stand - the guitar maestro in full flight.
9. How many More Times - it rocks!
10. Ramble On - acoustic, electric, amazing.
11. That's The Way - Lovely acoustic number off the third album.
12. Immigrant Song - Hammer of the Gods!!!
13. Battle of Evermore - Tolkien inspired, Sandy Denny duetting with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page on mandolin. Just too good!
And all the others too!
T13

The masters return and are magnificent....

The piece de resistance!!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Master :: and servant


2. Tour :: guide


3. Input :: output


4. Downtown :: city


5. Pricey :: expensive


6. Acceptable :: standard


7. Terrace :: house


8. Sunday :: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday....


9. Payoff :: reward


10. Jack and Jill :: went up the hill

from here

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is "long".
So,
1. Long legs - Queenscliff Music Festival
2. Long coastline - Tallow Beach, New South Wales
3. Long pier - Hervey Bay, Queensland
4. Long nose - one of Clare's pics from her Africa trip.

 
 
 
 

Friday Fill-in

1. I am looking forward to the week off at Christmas.
2. Red is/are my favorite color(s) for the Christmas tree lights.
3. The candles in the window have no bulbs because there aren't any candles in the window.
4. I don't have any favorite Christmas movies.
5. My favorite Christmas lyric(s) is/are jeez, I'm going to come across as a real grouchy scrooge this week because I don't do all this schmaltzy stuff.
6. I'm dreaming of a lottery win.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting out of this shop, tomorrow my plans include keeping cool and Sunday, I want to break free!

Go here if you'd like to play.

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen rejected photos for the One Object/365 days Project on Flickr. (Except I can't count. There are 14 here. Sorry.)

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

 

T13

Update on Monday's rain....

Apparently, in the Boronia/Bayswater area, there were over 170 calls to emergency services that afternoon. Lots of shops and businesses got flooded out, including the chemist where Kylie works and the Toyota dealership where I bought my car from. The local paper has a photo of someone's late-model Merc with water up to the windows.

Oh yeah, and the shop building has been sold. No-one's told us, the tenants.

Crappy Christmas gifts....

You Are a Christmas Sweater!

Over the top, colorful, and totally flashy. You're not afraid to be a little tacky.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

I have several of these from my mother.
Seen at Shirl's.

And the heavens opened.....

And the heavens opened, originally uploaded by jsarcadia.

Wild weather this afternoon! I took this pic at about lunchtime, then after about 10 minutes it stopped and we had blue skies again. Now it's coming down in buckets again. The paint shop, 2 doors down, has closed due to flood damage and Pat from next door has closed and gone home 'cos his house is flooding. Eeek! He lives not too far from me.
The boss rang to see if I was okay. He's in Bayswater, the next suburb over, and had just seen a car floating down the road with two blokes swimming after it.
That's Laurie's car in the pic, by the way. He just happened to be driving past as I snapped away.

Pyjamas!

Hehe, Madame Snape has awarded me a Pyjama Award - for a blog most likely to inspire a pair of pyjamas. Haha, does this mean I send her to sleep????

Thanks Janet :)

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Music :: is the one thing I can't live without.


2. Insanity :: visits here often.


3. Curtain :: call


4. Nickname :: Jules, D1


5. Container :: tin


6. Roast :: lamb


7. Thong :: is something you wear on your FOOT


8. Purple :: Rain


9. Holidays :: would be nice


10. Christmas tree :: plastic

from here

Saturday Photo Hunt

This week's theme is Red. So here's some red......

Friday Fill-in

1. When my blog is broken, I don't know what I'll do. Touch wood, it won't ever happen.
2. I saw the most amazing camera this morning!
3. Led Zeppelin live, Dec 2007 is the new movie I'm most looking forward to seeing. :)
4. Work: Necessary and not doing as well as I'd like.
5. Of all the new tv shows, I enjoy Rose and Maloney the most.
6. If only I were still at Queenscliff.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to a drink, tomorrow my plans include work and then whatever and Sunday, I want to take it as it comes!
Fill-ins here.

Return of the Rock Gods

 

The most exciting news since The Cure tour was announced....

Led Zeppelin! Rumours of a tour, hopefully one that includes Australia. Oh please, let it be true!!!!!!!!!!!!
(And thanks to Mdme Snape Percy for the heads up.)