39 Questions on 2007

1. What did you do in 2007 that you'd never done before?
Traveled to Darwin and lived there for three months. Traveled to Norway (yay for the Arctic Circle), Belgium, Germany and Spain. Had the chicken pox (and as a result had my first doctor's appointment in French). Called a dance show. Baked pound cake, lebkuchen and vast quantities of shortbread. Went dog sledding, tobogganing and horse sleigh riding under the Northern Lights. What a year of firsts!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I think I achieved same same, but different however the three ball juggling still needs practice.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not that I'm aware of or recall.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully no.

5. What countries did you visit?
France, England, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Singapore, Qatar.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

Direction.

7. What date from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
2nd Feb - Gene & I celebrated our 5th anniversary in St Flour and Nick gave us the most beautiful gift of a script.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Starting to make life decisions and learning (still learning) to life with the repercussions.

9. What was your biggest failure?
not working hard enough on my relationship

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Chicken pox, minor joint damage to my left shoulder and a rather nasty case of tonsillitis. All in all a good year...

11. What was the best thing you bought in 2007?
my laptop!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My parents for both taking the news that Mum has pancreatic cancer in their stride. For their strength and determination and solidarity through the treatment so far and for the serenity that they seem to have found in this difficult time. I applaud them and hope that one day I will find a similar serenity in the face of challenge.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Probably my own but that's more depressed than appalled.

14. Did you do to any weddings?
nope.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Cookies! Armed with 500 Cookies and the internet the baked goods world is my oyster. On a more serious note, hearing that Mum's cancer seems to be gone.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?
Intermission by The Scissor Sisters

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
---happier or sadder? sadder
---thinner or heavier? *sigh* thinner
---richer or poorer? poorer financially, richer in life experience

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
reading, knitting/crochet, baking

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
being unproductive

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Eve was spent singing carols in the dark to entertain Mum (we had a black out) and handing out cookies to people in the court we live in. Day was spent partially at Grubby's and at home cooking roast for my folks.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?
no

22. Were you rejected by anyone?
no

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Had a big Gilmore Girls thing going mid year but seem to have taken a real shine to Grand Designs. Oh and the Green Wing ("She's your schmoo too!", classic...)

24. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
nope

25. What was the best book you read?
Close call between His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman, Lost Girls by Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie (comics count as books in my library) and The Ghost's Child by Sonya Hartnett.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Oedo Sukeroku Taiko

27. What did you want and got?
many things with many outcomes

28. What did you want and did not get?
the location of a missing box of my favourite books from when my folks moved about 5 years ago!

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Honestly didn't see much film this year so I don't feel I can answer this one!

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Mourned the loss of Percy the pinata, spent the day with Gene & my folks before dinner at my favourite Japanese restaurant to celebrate both my birthday and my family's 21 years of being in Australia before catching up with my ever wonderful friends at the Bystander Bar for Comedy at Trades. I'm still 24.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
it would take more than one thing (yes I want to eat the damn cake too)

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?
fashion concept you say...? umm same as last year although possible more summer oriented given the three months in Darwin. Still largely black though.

33. What kept you sane?
My ever patient friends and family.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I'm still happy to watch Johnny Depp, Clive Owen and Cillian Murphy at this point but to be honest I haven't really followed the celebrities much this year either.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
probably the abortion debate although I acknowledge that climate change is a rather important issue too.

36. Who did you miss?
no one in particular, I've managed to keep in touch with quite a few people even if it hasn't been face to face.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
I can't pick! The team I worked with up in Darwin and most of the people I worked with the the last half of the year are all pretty amazing.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006.
See below.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
... getting your dreams it's strange, but it seems a little - well - complicated. There's a kind of a sort of cost. There's a couple of things get lost. There are bridges you cross you didn't know you crossed until you've crossed. And if that joy, that thrill, doesn't thrill you like you think it will. Still... Who wouldn't be happier? So I couldn't be happier, because happy is what happens when all your dreams come true. Well, isn't it?

Baking for days

It's 02:07 and I've baked 7 mini flour-less chocolate cakes and have another four in the oven. So much for last night's marathon sleep (21:30 until 12:30) resetting my sleep cycle. There's also a large bowl of dough chilling so that I can get up early (ha) and bake some lebkuchen while I prepare some jam drops and shortbread. I'm on a bit of a baking kick...

I state that for the benefit of the majority of you who will not witness the results of tonight's grocery shopping. Purchases include:
- 5kg bakers flour
- 1kg pastry flour
- 2kg caster sugar
- 1kg brown sugar
- ground cloves
- butter milk
- 1.25kg unsalted butter
- 440g almond meal
- several mini cake tins
- 36 eggs
- 1 pot of strawberry conserve
- 1 pomegranate

As you can tell, my baking is probably not the healthiest I've done, although the flourless chocolate cake involves surprisingly little sugar. The pomegranate has very little to do with the baking and more to do with my newly discovered love of the flavour pomegranates.

The oven is beeping at me. I should probably make it stop.

Today's post is brought to you by the numbers 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2

0.75 is the number of hours sleep I've had in the last 32 hours. I sense my nocturnal habits may be at an end.

1 is the number of days I've worked this week. It's good to be working again, even if it's just an orientation.

1.5 is the number of cards I ended up writing yesterday before being distracted by the arrival of the Schoeller & Stahl Zermatt yarn that Dad bought Mum & I for Christmas. I am now knitting a sweater despite the summery weather in the vague hope I'll finish it in time for Autumn/Winter 2008.

2 is the number of chapters I've read of The Ghost's Child. Since my last post I've discovered that The Pleasure of my Company doesn't actually have chapters. As a result I'm having a lot of trouble not finishing it in one deliciously indulgent reading. I'm trying to pace myself.

Midnight Cakes

Not only am I nocturnal, I'm beginning to make a habit of baking cakes at midnight. This is of course totally in line with Dad's nocturnal habits but I'm sure it's not good for us!

Tonight's cake was a simple pound cake made with a recipe that I've altered a bit and am still tweaking. Perhaps a little less egg but otherwise a delicious cake that will be perfect with my morning (ha!) coffee.

Speaking of coffee I don't think I've mentioned how in love I am with our new espresso machine, which in all honesty isn't that new any more as we've had it for almost a month... Purchased the day after the dishwasher caught fire which I also seem to have failed to mention. I guess that's what happens when I write while I should be asleep.

I have had a fairly productive day today despite only making it out of bed at 13:00. I've achieved 80% of what I wanted to do.

Tomorrow I'm aiming to:
- do at least one load of washing
- clean the bathroom
- head to the post office and post my international mail
- head to the supermarket to pick up some supplies for further baking adventures
- have a cup of coffee with a slice of tonight's cake
- read another chapter of The Pleasure of my Company and one of The Ghost's Child (apparently children's fiction and literature have captured my attention from the stack of sci-fi/fantasy that's sitting by my bed
- write a few more cards
- finish the entrelac scarf that I've been making out of Noro's Silk Garden yarn.

We'll see how I go... first I need to get out of bed before noon! Excellent practice for Tuesday when I have to be at work at 09:00. Wish me luck!

Infrequent Insomnia Blog

Lately it seems that I only write my infrequent blog posts in the wee hours of the morning. Mind you it seems to be getting later each time so who knows, maybe I'll find myself, over time, posting during sensible hours again.

Last time I was up at all hours typing away I talked about awakeness. Well in the day that followed, I remember little of the LX plots - I think one was canceled. Don G was great despite having to leave the theatre just after the start of Act 1 because I was feeling faint. That night I made it home after stopping by the side of the freeway for a nap. The next day I decided to see a doctor. Tonsillitis. Never in my life have I had tonsillitis that made me feel quite so dead. Armed with antibiotics I headed home to sleep off the time that it would take the antibiotics to kick in. Two days apparently. Two days later I was in the doctor's office again. Apparently it had gotten worse and my throat was quite swollen and it was now affecting both sides of the throat which was making breathing, eating and drinking awfully more taxing than usual. Stronger antibiotics were ordered as well as something to help make them easier to stomach. The tech run felt like it went forever. Seems the medication that made the antibiotics easier to stomach were also making me feel cloudy as all hell but I was under the impression that was the tonsillitis. Oops. No more driving if I have that medication again.

Before I knew it the show was running and even sooner it was over. I finally took some time off like I'd been speaking about doing for quite some time. Three days into my break I was bored and looking for work again.

Mind you I've had a rather enjoyable time since then. I've since, many thanks to Tam, seen Alcina and Tales of Hoffman just to complete the season of operas. I've also seen more contemporary dance which was a little lost on me but the set and lighting was very sexy. Aside from that my hours have been spent sorting out paperwork and trying to work out a plan for the foreseeable future. I've also re-discovered reading as a pastime. Robert Charles Wilson's Spin was a fabulously engaging read, now I'm slowly whittling away at the books sitting next to my bed. Steve Martin's Shop Girl is currently battling several sci-fi fantasty novels for my attention. However I did find myself rather taken with the film so it's hard to say which will triumph. I suspect neither and I'll just flit between them.

Given that the sun is likely to appear in the sky shortly I should stop writing and attempt some sleep before it wakes me up. Oh well. I figure that this time on Tuesday I'll be on my way to work so it's probably not a bad thing to be a little nocturnal. Seems to be my natural state anyhow.

End ramble.