A LEAN, GREEN, PROCRASTINATION MACHINE

 

march 31, 2003

sloganize

creepy. the advertising slogan generator just randomly pulled up this slogan:

Don't You Just Love Being In Pipstar?


pipstar @ 01:36 AM | link | Comments:

march 31, 2003

flatlining

i sit with the tv tuned to sbs so that i can pretend i'm not in australia.

and realise that i missed out on a pedro almodovar flick.

damn.


pipstar @ 01:32 AM | link | Comments: **

march 28, 2003

almost grown up

tomorrow i head off to my first ever hen's day / night. a picnic and later on a cocktail party. which sounds very cultured. i was afraid that there'd be tulle, sex toys or chicken motifs.

i've managed to avoid peer weddings so far. it probably has a lot to do with my very rare interactions with the people i went to school with. and the fact that until zoe and dominic got engaged, none of the ex-school mates that i cared about had done anything marriage-like.

it's a little weird. i've seen zoe about once every year or so, usually by chance, since we left school. which means that the memories i have of her are six years old and involve looking at her curled up asleep on one of the beanbags in the matric common room.

[common room memories also include anna attempting to completely write her english journal the week before it was due, food congealing in the fridge and the smell of the lockers in the next room. paddle pops. chip sandwiches. prayer books with notes from hazel in the back. year 12 choral night rehearsals. thinking i was in love with a creepy man far too old for me. it's all flooding back.]

is it the same zoe getting married in a fortnight? or is it someone radically different from the girl i once knew well?

i've changed in the last 6 and a half years. i'm better at making decisions. but my spirit still feels the same. when i'm 97 and spend my days in a nursing home bed, will my spirit have remained the way it feels today?

i live in a house by myself, i drive a car, i travelled alone for five months, have had various jobs, i've been in serious, but eventually unsuccessful relationships. and i still feel like i'm play acting.

the feeling of play acting is most dangerous when i'm driving. i momentarily forget which pedal does what and laugh at myself.


pipstar @ 12:05 PM | link | Comments: *

march 27, 2003

experimentation

making new friends and trying new recipes.

good ideas, but they could both lead to horrible failure. imagine inviting a new friend for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner and attempting a new dish at the same time!

that sounds like a recipe for disaster.

anyway, as chris and pete are soon to take off on new adventures near and far, and many of my brilliant current friends are busy when i'm free, i figure that i need to get more fabulous friends. possibly a couple of new geeks as pete and chris are the people who i end up talking to about php, flash etc.

and i'm getting sick of hummus, pasta with olive oil, salt, pepper and parmesan, risotto with mushrooms and zucchini and pizza. well, not sick, i just wish that i had a bigger repetoire of standard meals.

i look in food magazines and cookbooks, but i rarely actually make something that i've liked the idea of. and if i do attempt something, it's quite likely to be something sweet. i need more dinner ideas.

this evening i did play around with an idea from donna hay magazine, a sweet risotto. it would be ideal to serve with stewed quinces or something like that, but i figured i'd try to keep the preparation to one dish.

i added vanilla, honey, cardomom pods, some cinnamon, sweet sherry and some apple slices to the basic milk and rice mixture. it's ok, but kinda boring. it needs much more flavour, a sourish element.

maybe lemonjuice?


pipstar @ 11:22 PM | link | Comments:

march 26, 2003

redesigning

i've been procrastinating a little by working on a redesign for battlecat.

it's here at the moment.

and it should look a little like this...

if you notice any major flaws for full screen / medium sized windows could you comment the problem and the browser version you're using?


pipstar @ 11:46 PM | link | Comments:

march 25, 2003

keep out of daylight

Nicole had a fairly good response to the unasked question of the Oscars:
(People ask) Why do you come to the Academy Awards when the world is in such turmoil? Because art is important and because you believe in what you do and you want to honour that

to which i add
contemporary cultures examine themselves through their arts, much as traditional societies do via the experience of ritual. ritual and the arts offer a metalanguage, a way of understanding who and what we are, how values and attitudes are adjusted, how meaning shifts. (Hirsch, Paul M & Newcomb, H 2000, ‘Television as cultural form’ in Television: The critical view, ed. H Newcomb, Oxford University Press, Oxford)


another poster for peace
unamerican - old posters (new protest posters coming soon)


photos from l'il bro alex's birthday dinner

my other brother is actually eminem and i'm part gremlin


pipstar @ 10:51 PM | link | Comments:

march 25, 2003

deconstructivism

did i mention that i managed to get movable type fixed up?

i had to completely reload MT and set the permissions over and over again.

it's quite possible that the act of reloading MT coincided with my hositing provider actually repairing the problem, but now i've got a nice, neat, install complete with all required libraries.

so now you can comment away!

and don't forget to evaluate the media messages we're getting at the moment. i have to run a class on "evaluating information", i'm studying television and society in which i have to write an essay on semiotics, and last night four corners focused on the reliability of media coverage from both the "coalition" and arab perspectives, so analysis is at the forefront of my mind.

but i warn you, analysis of battlecat.net may be a futile exercise.


pipstar @ 08:50 AM | link | Comments:

march 24, 2003

the way of all things

it's a sad fact, but weekends are inevitably followed by a new week.

a fun saturday, sunday and monday, and now i have to prepare for the next week.

do the dishes and tidy up for my grandma's weekly visit.
read for my classes and for the classes i tutor.
sleep.
wake up for the bus and two hours of tutoring, two hours of break, 4 hours of television and society and dinner with mum and ed.


pipstar @ 10:32 PM | link | Comments: *

march 24, 2003

huh?

i have to say that i'm pretty confused by the fuss over the visual broadcast of US prisoners of war from Iraq.

contravening the geneva convention?

what about the prisoners held in guantanamo bay?


pipstar @ 09:54 PM | link | Comments:

march 24, 2003

disgruntled hostess

why on earth isn't there more time available in my schedule for me to be able to act the gracious hostess? and why aren't my friends and i all living glorious lives free of work and study commitments, free to chill whenever we want? night and day!


that said, pete k was free to hang out with me on saturday night (we made pizza and went to josh's girlfriend's 21st) and on sunday (free tickets to moby). it might seem to be a concentrated amount of pete, but he is making the "traditional" adelaide young person's move to melbourne in a fortnight.

and chris came along this morning for another day of pizza creation. late morning entertaining is so much fun on my porch, the sun shines in so you get warmed just the right amount.

aw shucks! sell! sell! sell!


pipstar @ 09:39 PM | link | Comments: *

march 23, 2003

everything's turning to white

photos from amanda's weeklong return to adelaide.
aliese at the exeter amanda at the exeter debbie at the exeter amanda at the church jess at the church mykl at the church

me at the aldgate cafe
on monday i went to dinner with my family for my little brother's 14th birthday. by the end of the dinner i felt only about 15 myself,as it was revealed to me by an old friend who worked at the cafe,that her brother (who i used to have a crush on) also worked there.

my family did their best to make me embarrassed. oh yeah. so much fun.


pipstar @ 03:50 PM | link | Comments:

march 16, 2003

exterminate

i've been in a couple of tizzy like moods the last couple of days, and i've placed bits of paper and piles of clothes and teacups all over my house. finally a day when i can bit by bit put everything back into order. clean clothes into my chest of drawers, dishes washed and put away, kitchen cupboards tidied, desk mess ordered, lecture notes in folders, cds back in their cases.

but it's such a beautiful day! i want to go outside!

photos from the picnic and sonja at her party

ooh yeah, 'cause everybody's daddy's house is grey let's get physical you should be dancing, yeah! dip queen what's my flava? sonja and friend


pipstar @ 03:51 PM | link | Comments:

march 15, 2003

picnic...

i've been invited to a picnic... and to a librarian themed party. and i need to get petrol...

so, i'm going to quickly make some hummus, dress up in librarianish clothing, get in my car, buy 5 dollars of petrol, go to the picnic, potentially find someone to take to the party with me and then head off to sonja's.

It's a library party. So dress appropriately. In the library, chaos becomes order. But at the end of the day, when the reserve collection sits safely on its shelves, anything could happen. Who knows what goes on in the library after dark? Expect to be catalogued. Expect to be stamped, Expect to be sssshh-ed.
BYO alcohol. We'll catalogue it into alphabetical and chronological order.

self involved gadget playing I self involved gadget playing II self involved gadget playing III

pippa wears her new brown boots, cargo pants from germany, an avalanches tshirt and a top karah gave her.


pipstar @ 03:53 PM | link | Comments:

march 15, 2003

i want to ride my bicycle

when i rode my bike back from womad with ellie, i noticed that my bike was making a weird noise... as i pedalled it kinda went "whoop, whoop, whoop". and today as i rode to have coffee with pete i noticed the noise again. on the way home i saw that the rear wheel seems to be angled towards the left of the frame, and it may possibly be brushing against the frame to make the "whoop" noise.

but, because i've never had need to look at the angle of the rear wheel, i have no mental image to compare the current position against. it does look far too close to the frame, and i know i have to tighten my brake cables, so it looks like i may have to take a crash course in bicycle maintenance.

the fact that i actually want to repair the bike shows how much my relationship with my bike has strengthened over the last month. my mother and i have owned this bike for almost 15 years and when i lived up in the hills i maybe rode it 10 or 12 times. and then when i was living in parkside i mentioned that i wanted a bright red bicycle, so mum and ed very kindly spray-painted the bike and fixed it up as a surprise for me.

while i was living in parkside i rode the bike on one properish ride, through parkside and down to the house i'm living in now. i hadn't started yoga at that point in my life and i was doing zilch exercise and i was completely exhausted by the time i got back home. and then a couple of weeks later i bought a tray for the rear of my bike, which i never successfully attached.

and then... i went overseas, was inspired by university students across europe with their cool bicycles and i bought a pannier bag in Amsterdam for $19. that bag and my current residence in a flat suburb close to the city have been the inspirations for my ever improving bike relationship. i fixed the bike tray, attached the bags and i've been riding my bike a number of times a week.

i enjoy riding my bike so much that i get annoyed if i don't ride it often enough. and i feel worried when i hear strange "whoop, whoop, whoop" noises. i must get it repaired.


pipstar @ 02:55 PM | link | Comments:

march 15, 2003

photos from coffee with pete this morning

vanity fare have coffee in mugs and they cater for people with dogs... if only i had a dog... morning is not the best time for me oooh.... arty. pete liked my $68 digital camera a $55 dollar, simple black slide with the name Pippa. oddly i was able to resist the purchase... whoop, whoop, whoop


pipstar @ 01:56 PM | link | Comments:

march 14, 2003

digital life

oh, i've finally got a digital camera! it's pretty much a digital pinhole camera, but once the images have been made smaller and modified with the Lomo Photoshop Actions, the images look ok.
but, what can you expect when you only pay $68?

topical blog - cnn journalist in the gulf keeps us up to date


pipstar @ 03:57 PM | link | Comments:

march 14, 2003

yesterday

4 hours of tutoring, and then i went into town, bought the camera, a pair of $50 suede boots from target, new yoga leggings, food...

i had a nap and then went to yoga where i'm beggining to make some breakthroughs. chataranga's coming on well, but halfdog handstand practice with my feet on the wall is still a little scary.

and after yoga, karen and karah came over to have curry. i'm still not that good at cooking rice, but after years of relying on a rice cooker, i avoid having to properly cook rice myself.


karen at yoga

they are making me go to level 2!

it's all from the pelvis, in a while it will be like a tight little ball bouncing around (que?)


pipstar @ 03:00 PM | link | Comments:

march 14, 2003

today

uni, the market, another huge nap, thai soup, tv. a potentially boring day. but i have a digital camera!

i walked through the park i caught the bus they like palm trees at mawson lakes a nautical themed university a number of kilometres inland from the coast unisa, my educator and employer


pipstar @ 01:02 PM | link | Comments: *

march 10, 2003

blah and womad

for some strange reason, cgi scripts aren't running on my server, so it looks like i'm going to have to do manual posts for a while.

womadelaide was a whole bunch of fun, thanks to pete h for helping me with difficult food decisions and riding my bike up the most pathetic hill in the world.

also thanks to aliese and my new friend ellie for helping with trouser decisions and becoming fellow crowd chanters and back up singers for the allstar finale.


pipstar @ 04:03 PM | link | Comments:

march 06, 2003

enigma

it seems that i always return to posting about my battle with maintaining a reasonable sleep pattern. though now i have to create a new one.

three 9am starts each week! after over a year of erratic sleeping, half interested university attendence, international travel, bored unemployment, i actually have to wake up.

so far this week so good. though i arrived a couple of minutes late to a tutor's meeting the other day and immediately after we all talked about getting students to turn off their mobile phones, my phone rang.

but i got aidan back by calling him up during a lecture.

since aidan and i are now not even potentially going to go out again (which was our status all of last year) we've begun to get far more argumentative. methinks that there might be some type of tension which is leading us to fight with each other. (yes, it could be sexual tension, but it's not specific to aidan. we just have to learn to direct our energies into far more productive realms such as study, art, exciting discussions and eventually successful relationships with different people).

which leads me further into this ramble... today i saw the documentary derrida at the film festival. while it didn't help to explain deconstructionism at all, derrida did present an approach to love which may (in the longer term) allow me to transfer aidan from "my ex" into aidan "my friend".


dumbed down...
what are you loving? the someone, or the something about the someone?

love often ends when the actual person doesn't live up to the "somethings" which you love about them...

which makes sense. i suppose that i still "love" aidan the person, but i think that while i was away from aidan i ended up loving the idealised, concept of aidan. now that we're back in our original context i realise that the real aidan doesn't fit that image.

which doesn't prevent me from being friends with him, in fact, i think that it helps me be friends with him as it provides an explanation for why we aren't in a relationship with each other.


pipstar @ 10:42 PM | link | Comments:

march 05, 2003

haxors lab? learn to spell!

oh no!

my aunt's website has been hacked! and i've forgotton the administrators passwords!


panicpanic....

cool. i was able to login, replace the index page and change the password.


pipstar @ 12:47 PM | link | Comments:

march 04, 2003

motivational speaking

first day back at uni.

i must, i must, i must finish my degree. by the end of this year. with lots of high marks.

i must also attempt to give my students a good grasp of the concepts surrounding computers and communication in society.

and i figure i'm off to a good start. i woke up on time, arrived at uni pretty early.


pipstar @ 07:58 AM | link | Comments:

march 03, 2003

inheritance

food for tonight... friands baked in some of my grandmother's cake tins and a recipe from my mother, capsicum and chickpea stew with potato dumplings.

there are splinters of rose thorns in my fingers. i really must buy some gardening gloves.


pipstar @ 11:33 PM | link | Comments:

march 03, 2003

home alone

i've been pretty brave living in this big ole house by myself, but i admit that i have a tendency to leave on lights on purpose, and that i sing a version of the spiderman theme song as i walk from my car around to the front door.

spiderweb, spiderweb,
please don't get in my face

spiderweb, spiderweb,
please don't get in my hair

not only do i present an air of carefree confidence designed to scare away mass murderers, prowlers, peeping toms, potential burglers, rapists and green goblins, i also potentially evaporate any spiderwebs which block my path through an overgrown garden.

the first night that i stayed here, karah came over for dinner after yoga and proceeded to tell me how scared she used to get when she lived by herself. things that go bump in the night became the main theme...

the time she heard noises out the front of her house and crept through the dark and overheard policemen talking about an escaped mental patient "well, we've blocked off this street, he won't be able to get away from us!". (true)

and the time she woke up to hear a serial axe murderer sitting outside her bedroom window on a fence, taking a break, eating apricots. (false)

but we both agreed that the decision of bedroom weaponry is an important choice for young women alone in scary houses with creaks and bumps. karah recommended sleeping with a knife under one's pillow, but i personally recommend keeping a screwdriver as you're less likely to accidentally cut yourself in the night and there's often better grip on the handle.

i also recommend keeping your mobile by the bed for emergency calls when the potential attacker has cut the main phone line and working out a contingency plan when you wake up to find a strange man sitting on your bed (true, it happened to a friend of a friend).

criminal intent karah stylee

criminal intent pippa stylee

[this is a joke but i'm not sure if everyone will realise that... surely the nra can recognise that screwdrivers are designed to drive screws, whereas guns are designed to harm?]


pipstar @ 12:15 PM | link | Comments:

march 02, 2003

they were the footsteps of a giant hound

we've been intending to have a fabulous baking session for a couple of weeks now, so tomorrow pete and i are going to bake friands.

i'm pretty happy with the timing of the baking session as it means i'll be able to take friands as part of my uni lunch. maybe we could bake some other tasty treats?

:::...

for the last 15 years my name has always been associated with an old character on the soap opera "Home and Away". (nb: a character played by two different actresses).

and now i discover that there's another Pippa on an australian tv series, Always Greener...

luckily i've matured a little. when at age 8 i discovered that there was a television character with the same name as me, i was so excited that i pretty much watched every episode of the first season of "home and away". methinks that i won't make the same effort for always greener.


pipstar @ 08:08 PM | link | Comments:

march 01, 2003

contented

Of late, when people have asked me what I've been doing, I've usually replied "Nothing much, but have I told you about the new computer I'm getting?".

I've had to wait a couple of weeks to get the main components together, but finally, I am using my new computer.

I still have to buy the display, a modem, keyboard and mouse, but for the moment i get to use the pieces from my old computer which my ungrateful little brother likes to complain about.


so a new design for battlecat.net, more entries and a potential improvement in the quality of said entries! i bet you can't wait.


pipstar @ 03:24 PM | link | Comments: