Gamer? Am I?

I wouldn't call myself a gamer. Not really. I mean, I ran a role playing convention once*. It had a pretty good turnout. I met my husband and, incidentally, most of my closest friends through the Sci-fi and Roleplaying society at Uni. I have my own (pink) Nintendo DS. And a PS2. And spend so many hours playing Zuma on the kitchen mac and Bejeweled2 on my iPod touch.

But I wouldn't call myself a gamer.

Except that I've recently started watching Good Game on Monday nights on ABC2. I think the hosts have a great rapport, they're funny and they have a hot asian chick reporter. I can't remember her name - haven't seen her on there very often.

The thing(s) I like most, however, are their little "community service announcements". 30 second clips interspersed throughout the half an hour show.

I particularly liked last night's one: If art were games.... Mondrian tetris!


* Not on my own. I couldn't have done it with my co-convenor Anna :)

Red, red, red

For the third morning in a row I awoke at 5am, this time without my alarm clock! Still dark and quiet with the exception of the rattling of the fence by the wind. Not even the birds were up.

I pottered around, not sure what to do with myself for a while. Made a cup of tea. Played a game of Zuma's Revenge. Then I looked out the window towards next door. A deep red light was filtering through. What on earth? I thought it was my neighbour's light. But upon another look it was the sky!


I raced outside with the camera (of course). The colours in the photos have NOT been altered in any way. Check out the flourescent light in my kitchen above. And here's the view from my bedroom window.


And just for reference, here's the view from my bedroom window on a normal day.


Wow!

Edited to add (7:10am):
Now the sun is up and the sky is a little less red. More orangey-yellow. The boys both woke up astonished at the sight. Atti said to me, "I went outside [to go next door] and the sky was all orange!" The downside to all this amazing light is that now EVERYTHING is covered in a fine layer of red dust. Ah, a little bit of Central Australia come to our door.

Morning busy-ness

Today was the second day in a row I was up at 5am. Not just awake, but up and about. I'm starting to feel a little tired.

I am amazed at how much I did before work, though.

In point form:

• Showered.
• Drove my parents to the airport.
• Got some dough out to rest before baking it.
• Baked a small loaf of bread (I'll post about that soon).
• Fed and dressed three children.
• Cleaned out the bunny's cage.
• Got ready for work.
• Dropped the kids off at school/childcare.

Hmm. Looking at the list, it doesn't seem like a huge amount but really, it was a busy and productive morning! Dan helped get the kids dressed but he had to leave early for a presentation on the north shore.

And the worst part was that I was still late for work (although to their credit the boys were ready before 8am).

Now that's some driving...

Last night (Monday night = single parent night) I managed to get the children into bed by 8pm! Incredible! Half an hour to an hour earlier than normal!

So early that I was able to watch half of Top Gear. And I saw this. It was incredible. The rest of the show was quite funny, too. I never really thought of myself as a "car" person, but this show makes it highly entertaining.




I hope the video doesn't get taken down due to copyright issues!

The Lego Taj Mahal: Part 4

Slowly but surely I'm getting there. Two thirds of the base part is now done!


I'm loving the little details - especially the windows. I'm looking forward to the "glass" windows... whenever I get to them.



Wish I could build it this quickly:

Good intentions...

At the end of last year I was full of good intentions... making several resolutions for the year ahead. Well, it's September now and I'd say I've sort-of, more-or-less stuck to them... except for the "more" part of things ("Cook more, craft more, exercise more...") But at least I haven't really done any less.

Except for this last one: "BLOG MORE!".

Darn it. I'm a bit annoyed about it. I can't help but be disappointed in myself. The months have flown by and I'm constantly writing posts in my head, or starting them and not finishing them. And nothing more than the usual LIFE getting in the way. I just don't know how to do it. To be a good mother, to be a good employee, to be a good wife, to be a good housekeeper, to be a good daughter, to be good to myself and to have time for my hobbies... and to be a good geek! Perhaps I demand too much of myself. Something's gotta give (as the saying goes). Friends complain that I don't have time for them anymore. (But really, if friends complain to you when they know how busy you are, how good a friend are they?) And yet, I'm not ready to let go. Of anything.

It's a conundrum. I don't know if I'll ever sort it out. I think it's just ME. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

He would have been 46 today

My eldest brother Arthur, and a young me. My next two older brothers are behind.