october 31, 2003
adelaide blogs
pete, chris, brian and mike, this is directed at you...
Adelaide Blogs has just been set up by the lovely james and claire.
go join!
pipstar @ 12:18 AM | link | Comments:
october 30, 2003
le fabuleux destin de pippa b.
it was my theory that armed with my newly purchased copy of amelie i will soon be able to effectively understand french. at least the vocabulary included in the film.
i was going to watch it without subtitles, but i discovered that they come up automatically.
so i'm compromising, and teasing myself.
while i attempt to write up some of the SHIS report before our meeting tomorrow, i am listening to the film. i sneak looks now and then, but i'm picking up some words and getting oh-so-excited by the thought of seeing amelie's paris now that i have been there.
pipstar @ 11:17 PM | link | Comments: *
october 29, 2003
redhead
i'm currently distressed about which fictional redheaded chicky to dress up as for halloween / brillig cd launch this friday...
there's seems to be a predomenance of skin tight clothing with leeloo and robin, and i was going to end up doing lola (singlets purchased and all), but fifth element hair is so much easier to achieve!
i could compromise with the leeloo costume. maybe wear my cargo pants? and not do the orange suspender thingo? or i could wear my blue yoga pants? and possibly i could find my brother's old docs?
i think that i'll go to clark's rubber before uni tomorrow and check out the availability of orange plastic. perhaps if it's backed with gaffa tape it will be ok?
do you peoples have any ideas?
pipstar @ 11:37 PM | link | Comments: ****
october 27, 2003
dream a little dream...
If all goes well in the next hour I will have actually completed my tax return for 2002-2003. And I'm hoping for a pretty nice return.
Which will at least pay off the majority of the post-travel, no-real-job since credit card debt.
Enabling me to live off my credit card and to buy Christmas presents and to earn frequent flyer points and to eventually travel to far off exotic / interesting / exciting / frequent flyer point redeemable places...
Melbourne?
Canberra? (Good Luck Josh!)
Tokyo?
India?
Prague?
New York?
Chicago?
I think that my eggs have not hatched to create chickens yet. I'd better watch out before I knock over the basket in all the imagined excitement!
:::...
Speaking around the general topic of New York... Shannon only got through to next week's Australian Idol because of his song choices!
pipstar @ 09:45 PM | link | Comments: *******
october 27, 2003
slap me!
I've been waiting all semester for a vaguely interesting and fun assignment... and now it's arrived!
I get to develop an XML DTD and instance for Database Technology.
I am honestly quite excited.
pipstar @ 12:57 PM | link | Comments: ***
october 26, 2003
eat, drink...
it didn't seem right for me to eat my beautiful garden bounty myself, so i invited karah over to worship at the table of the garden gods.
i made a vegetarian risotto with peas, teeny leeks and beetroot leaves (and shop bought mushrooms). the stock was the vegetable stock i made a couple of weeks ago. how martha!
i also roasted the beetroot with marjoram, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. yes, it was a "rustic" jamie oliver preparation. in a foil bag.
it did taste might good though.
pipstar @ 05:16 PM | link | Comments:
october 25, 2003
garden procrastination
i've just planted seedlings of zucchini, cucumber, heirloom tomatoes and basil. considering that i already have 7 tomato plants in the patch as well as assorted basil varieties sown, it's going to be salad caprese all though this summer.
i bravely emptied out my compost bin. if there's such a thing as solid slime, i've developed it! i covered the stinky anaerobic-decomposition pile with leaves and humus. if i get into gear i'll drive up to the hills for some bags of manure to add to the pile. then, in a month or so it should be suitable to turn.
i also harvested, that is, picked the current products of my garden. a very small amount of peas and beans (there were only four plants of each), most of the beetroot and the leeks.
the leeks were pretty small and the responsibility is all mine. the ground should have been looser and i should have mounded up earth around the leeks as they got older.
there will be enough baby leeks to put in the "baby" risotto i'm making tonight. i'll be adding the peas as well.
pipstar @ 05:41 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
switch on
I picked up another 2 packs of mystery photos today. It turned out to be a roll of actionsampler shots and a roll of SLR photos including pictures from my party!
I've updated my lomohome with the actionsampler shots. There were pics from a band rehearsal and some photos of Aliese, Helene and Sarah from the Hello Minnesota photo shoot.
The shots from my party are also uploaded. I have such hot friends!
purple podded peas
pipstar @ 07:51 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
ellie and ianto
pipstar @ 07:35 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
tim and cameras
pipstar @ 07:28 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
laura, pete, nick and nom
pipstar @ 07:28 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
michelle, steph and morgan
pipstar @ 07:26 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
zoe
pipstar @ 07:25 PM | link | Comments:
october 24, 2003
josh
pipstar @ 07:24 PM | link | Comments:
october 23, 2003
switch off
after 3 years you might be getting a bit bored of procrastination related posts, but don't worry, this is hopefully going to be my last semester at uni for a long time. so you'll just have to put up with me whinging (about uni, and my lack of initiative) for just one more month.
I so wish that i had actually done some work this semester! If only I'd used the 10 minute rule!
I'm now sitting down to do massive amounts of work at the last minute, and as soon as I start on one task I get really into it, but I then have to drop it to get going on the next!
Finally though, the motivation is beginning to kick in. Forgive me if I update erratically...
pipstar @ 11:29 PM | link | Comments: *
october 23, 2003
purple and green
I processed two mystery rolls of film and as I thought, they were mainly photos of plants. One roll from September and one from about June.
In a retrospective plantfest here are some photos of the purple podded pea and broad bean plants.
The other photos i've scanned are available here.
pipstar @ 01:05 AM | link | Comments: ***
october 23, 2003
purple and green leaves
pipstar @ 12:49 AM | link | Comments:
october 23, 2003
young hyacinth in jar
pipstar @ 12:47 AM | link | Comments:
october 23, 2003
orange yellow flower
pipstar @ 12:43 AM | link | Comments:
october 23, 2003
rose
pipstar @ 12:40 AM | link | Comments:
october 21, 2003
fighting temptation
the desire to do nothing but read novels and bake cookies is beginning to take hold. concepts for holiday gift baskets, embroidered and screen-printed presents are blossoming.
in the last couple of months i've been making up what feel like reasonable, yet very basic, rough-drafts of songs. unfortunately the transition from stuff i'm singing in the car and around the house to stuff on tape or with instrumentation is non-existent.
it feels like it's time to actually play around with the fully optioned keyboard that pete has left me, to actually seriously practise the guitar, to experiment with various sound programs sitting on my computer.
indeed, on thursday codename: the october manifesto are actually going to go into a studio and will attempt to record something. slow down romeo? the ianto song?
burgeoning musical talent or am i just wanting to procrastinate?
i have significant amounts of work to get done and then five exams to prepare for without passing out into a boredom induced coma. luckily all the exams are at 2pm. enought time for me to study late, wake up, study some more and then walk down to the showgrounds.
my god! uni will be over forever in just over a month.
pipstar @ 12:44 AM | link | Comments: ***
october 20, 2003
puppy dogs tails
because it was such an absolutely gross story, i chose to not write this anecdote up as soon as the event happened. but a recent newspaper report has got me fearful...
a couple of weeks ago i'd picked some lettuce from my garden, washed it off and stored it in the refrigerator. after having a typical student dinner of pasta (some ravioli variety i think) i decided to balance out the carbs with some lettuce.
i proudly tossed some of my very own, organic lettuce leaves together with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.
tasty. good texture. chewy?
had i chomped down on a bit of pasta remaining in the bowl? way too chewy...
so i spat out the offending object and watched as a little slug wriggled its way around the bottom of the bowl. it was still alive even though i had already chewed it...
now, for the past week or so, the only issue that i had with the slug was that it was super chewy. chowing down on a slug was just the peril of gardening without pesticides, but come to think of it, don't the french eat snails? wasn't i just being accidentally continental?
until i found that i may now be susceptible to a rare form of meningitis...
brain swelling meningitis... which could kill me!
i think i have a headache coming on!
pipstar @ 11:29 AM | link | Comments: **
october 19, 2003
so far
october has been about:
loquats and sticky fingers.
friends and food preparation
the final couple of weeks of student freedom (forever)
birthdays and smiles
pipstar @ 04:00 PM | link | Comments:
october 18, 2003
the acid-base indicator test
with stunning synchronicity the car descended to the overcast plains and her mood descended, became grey.
i can not believe what a sudden mood swing i just experienced. i looked up at the sky and realised that the sun wasn't shining through. bammm! sadness, melancholy or maybe just a lack of happiness hit. demontors and dark riders may possible be in the vicinity.
possibly my desire to live in berlin, copenhagen, london, new york or chicago is not a good idea. extended life in melbourne, the city of grey skies, is probably not recommended either.
earlier ...
pete k knows about cool stuff. after being shown my purple podded peas he decided that maybe the purple juice in the pod was actually a ph indicator.
josh, pete and i played at being Science Scouts. pea pod juice was put into a white dish, and tiny amounts of lemon juice and baking soda were added. success! bright blue signified a basic substance and a pink colour represented acid.
a far less exciting colour change was experienced with beetroot leaf juice, clear for acid and a slight variation of purple for the baking soda.
a delightful end to another beautiful day. pete, josh and i drank tea from my lovely new teapot (thanks josh!) and prepared another batch of princess meg's birthday celebration cookies. tonight we get to eat the majority of the cookies at josh's birthday / farewell party. yay!
pipstar @ 03:06 PM | link | Comments: **
october 17, 2003
tripping
another great side effect of the newly returned sunny weather is that i am feeling completely, supremely happy.
if i could bottle this feeling, i would. and i'd give it to you all for free.
pipstar @ 12:19 PM | link | Comments:
october 17, 2003
the light fantastic
it could be something to do with the return of warm weather and bright light, but i've started taking photos again.
i have a small collection of unprocessed film awaiting development. there'll be surprises. plants and people.
i ran out of c41 halfway through my party, so i picked up a slide film that i've been afraid to use.
i'm hoping that the light was strong enough for the party people photos and that my plan of cross-processing the film doesn't backfire. I was inspired by pete h's recent cross-processing success (the greens looked fabulous) so i spent yesterday afternoon taking photos of plants with bright colours.
one of the photos that i really want to be successful is a macro shot of a dark purple iris in my grandma's garden. it will hopefully be very robert mapplethorpesque as it felt ever so slightly erotic as i brushed the petals away so that i could get a far more intimate shot.
which leads me to a humble [3-part] question for you, my readers...
you've seen some of my previous photos and i was wondering if
a) i should have a [small] exhibition*?
b) you'd come along?
c) you'd buy a print?
* the exhibition would probably be largely shots of plants and people. the plants are easy to take photos of, but the people i want to use as models may possibly act difficult and shy.
pipstar @ 12:15 PM | link | Comments: **
october 13, 2003
tshirt by sarah
pipstar @ 12:18 PM | link | Comments:
october 13, 2003
the party's over
there are tasty leftovers to eat up... (the bannanan cake rocks aliese!)
some glasses and chai mugs to wash...
speakers to return to aidan m... (who traipsed across adelaide to pick them up for me)
new cds to listen to...
books to look at...
clothes to wear...
bunnings vouchers to spend! (how excited am i by hardware?)
photos to hang...
plants to plant and water...
tea to make and teapots to make the tea in...
and 5 subjects to catch up on.
today i write a list of what needs to be done. and i will do computer and internet technology and professional computing work.
freak out!
pipstar @ 11:01 AM | link | Comments: *
october 13, 2003
one on one ♥ing
the only sad thing about today had to be not getting to spend enough time with everyone. while it would be fun inviting everyone over for another party next weekend, i'd like to let you know that we should hang out again soon.
so, if you want to grab a beer, see a film, have an impromptu picnic, eat granny's beancurd at ky chow, get married or play dress ups, let me know.
pipstar @ 12:18 AM | link | Comments: *
october 12, 2003
♥ ♥ ♥
pipstar @ 11:56 PM | link | Comments: *
october 12, 2003
everything's perfect
it was a sunny day. and we sat outside on the grass and ate and drank and talked and people wore badges and took photos.
i learnt that taking one of those exercise balls outside and playing with it near a rose garden is not a good idea.
i also learnt that i have so many lovely people in my life. they were sitting on my lawn!
and those were just the people in adelaide who were able to turn up!* you are all special and beautiful. i love you all.
i know that you all love me for the food. here are the recipes:
the capsicum dip
the vegan gluten-free cake
and
[princess meg's birthday celebration cookies via loobylu.com]
thankyou to food providers, gift givers and helpers. you know who you are.
*to my friends overseas and interstate, i wish you'd been able to come. :)
pipstar @ 11:46 PM | link | Comments:
october 12, 2003
sonja & damien & bel
pipstar @ 06:11 PM | link | Comments:
october 12, 2003
feeling groovy
i've baked and i've stirred and for some odd reason i've made vegetable stock. but i've frozen the stock for a rainy day and now i've got henna in my hair.
there are badges in a bowl, and my throat is sore. there is a phenomenal amount of junk lying around in my living room waiting to be sorted.
i'm going to go to bed now. it's my party tomorrow and i reserve the right to cry if i want to, and to clean up at the last minute.
pipstar @ 12:08 AM | link | Comments:
october 08, 2003
memememe
i'm hoping that a plea for an unofficial extension until friday, complaints that it's my birthday and the medical certificate i got on saturday will allow me to not hand this up tomorrow.
I've got half of the contents done, but I need to do two more applications.
yikes!
i am going to sleep.
pipstar @ 02:38 AM | link | Comments: ***
october 08, 2003
happy birthday to me!
last year i spent the night before my birthday getting ridiculously drunk in istanbul with four of the best people i have ever met. i was wrapped in tinsel and we drank raki and beer 'til early in the morning.
while walking around earlier in the night i irrationally wished to hear november rain. luckily we found a bar for the young turkish people who wanted to be in the beatles, oasis, led zeppelin and metallica. in an experience completely opposed to the turkey of the south-east where we had travelled, we listened to music including britney spears and you guessed it, guns and roses.
[shout out to simon, jon, tish and rick!]
tonight however is a different story. karah* and i went for a walk and ate hot chips. we made party related favours and drank jasmine tea.
and then i started what i thought would be a super easy assessment task. uh oh... it's easy but time consuming.
luckily it has a two fold effect, i have to write four job applications and associated documentation. at the end of it i'll have 3 application letters and appropriate CVs. i'm including the super lucky but not quite application and using it as the model for the other letters and CVs. [nowhere in the specs does it say that we can't use previous job applications.]
at least i'm not lying in bed feeling sorry for my unemployed, 24 year old self... I'm actively dealing with my future, and fucking up the somewhat normal sleep pattern i've developed.
yay for coffee.
:::...
don't view this as my ultimate drawing ever. because it's not anywhere good. but i thought i'd scan in my drawing of last year's birthday companions because i think that they're nice people. even though they look deformed in my picture.
*karah - one of the most supremely fantastic and stylish and lovely people ever.
pipstar @ 12:28 AM | link | Comments: ***
october 06, 2003
party food
i didn't want to jinx my party weather, but i also need to know whether people would be hanging out inside or outside on sunday, so i checked the long range forecast and it looks like sunday will be a fine sunny day in the low 20s.
sweet.
like (some of) the food i'm going to make for the party.
- chocolate cake
- vegan gluten-free rice and apricot cake
- princess meg's birthday celebration cookies
- cold rolls
- bean dip
- watsonia cheese and bread
can you think of anything else i could include?
pipstar @ 10:56 PM | link | Comments: **
october 06, 2003
watch me burn
i'm seriously considering not handing in that is, not really attempting the database technology assignment which is due tomorrow. for a number of reasons (i forgot it existed, i was sick and i couldn't even concentrate on tv for a number of days) i didn't actually start the assignment.
and now i'm sitting in front of the computer attempting to write queries for a non-existent distributed database and quite frankly, i don't care.
the weighting of 10% will make a significant difference to my grade, but considering i can't even translate my standard SQL to a distributed format for the first question, i think that i wouldn't be missing out on any marks by not submitting.
pipstar @ 10:38 PM | link | Comments:
october 06, 2003
the table question
when i moved into my grandma's house earlier this year, i discovered a wooden table in the laundry. for some reason a piece of lino was on the table top and two of the sides had been enclosed with pieces of wood.
odd.
anyway, at the craft day earlier this year, i moved the table onto the porch and it's stayed there ever since. the lino began to curl back from the winter rain and as far as i could see there was nothing wrong with the table surface.
so today i finally got around to one of my intended holiday jobs, which was to remove the extraneous bits of wood and lino. done.
now i just need to borrow the sander and a chisel from dad and i'll be able to scrape off the left over glue and lino bits and sand the table down. then i'll paint it and the rather boring looking chairs in the kitchen.
i really ought to be on room for improvement or something... but for the people who've been to my house, should i paint the table and chairs a similar green to the kitchen, or cream, or both cream and the avocado color?
pipstar @ 01:07 PM | link | Comments: ***
october 06, 2003
purple and green
it would be nice to think that the purple podded peas produced purple peas as well as pods.
but they don't.
i've just eaten some of the cute little green peas. sweet and tasty.
given that i've reduced my purple podded pea crop by about 3% by eating one pod's worth of peas, i have to consider how i will use the peas when all the pods are ready for harvest.
i think that some variety of risotto will be in order.
pipstar @ 12:48 PM | link | Comments:
october 05, 2003
healthier girl
yesterday i felt absolutely confused. i was tired, the pressure in my head was extreme and i just couldn't think.
am i feeling better? possibly i'm slightly less mucussed up thanks to the antibiotics and the herbal stuff i bought. and i also slept about 18 hours out of 24 yesterday, that has to help you get better.
i actually socialised with people this afternoon and earlier i read a pretty good book, mr rinyo-clacton's offer by russell hoban. while searching at amazon i found out that he wrote one of my favourite books as a child, bread and jam for frances.
and yesterday karah smsd that she'd seen the red shoes for $211 at david jones. i bought them for $40. that has to make anyone feel better.
pipstar @ 11:31 PM | link | Comments: *
october 03, 2003
lose weight fast
yay for hayfever...
i think that i'm losing weight because of all the snot i'm blowing out. i don't think i've consumed enough food, liquid or allergy related pharmaceuticals to make the equation balance out.
and what was initially a pollen induced reaction is now a headcold and i think i've got a mild ear infection and i woke up with a sticky eye so it looks like i'll need to get eyedrops.
nyeh.
yay indeed for hayfever.
pipstar @ 12:10 PM | link | Comments:
october 02, 2003
good girl
- i've organised my birthday party for next sunday (the 12th). if you're in adelaide and you want to come along, get in touch with me!
- i wished my brother happy birthday today... he's 21!
- i used up leftover bits of silver to make earrings and a tiny pendant
pipstar @ 12:08 PM | link | Comments:
october 02, 2003
purple podded peas
the photo has been slightly enhanced with the lomo photoshop filter, but the peas are actually purple!
i've only got about 4 plants, so the crop isn't going to be huge, but i have plenty of seeds saved up for next year!
pipstar @ 11:17 AM | link | Comments: *
october 01, 2003
bad girl
- bad girls of the bible one of my favourite local bands have just gone online. they're playing in melbourne soon... you'd better go check them out.
- i haven't done any uni work during the break. yesterday i thought that i'd completely forgotten about an assignment (as in not downloading specs, doing or submitting said assignment.) it's due on tuesday and another assignment is due on wednesday.
phew. - i am behind on emailing people
- nutrition is a concept lost on me at the moment. honey on toast and cups of tea are currently my cooking forté.
- i went out and bought impractical shoes yesterday.
© 2002 - 2007 Pippa Buchanan