Hello Again!!

Well, well, well. It's been a long time again, hasn't it? Wow! Sorry, folks. A lot has happened since last time, and a lot is happening right now.

Since last post, I've handed in lots of papers and completed several tests. Yay me.

I've gotten to ride my horse for the first time since last fall. Huzzah!!! He wanted to run and run and run! And then when I got off him and slid to the ground I could barely walk for several days, LOL. But it was grand! I can't wait to go riding again! I love it when he runs; he has such an easy gait. It's unfortunate I look like a rather large lumpy bag of potatoes on his back -- my balance isn't so good. But I'm working on it, really, I am. I shan't rest until I ride as well as Russell Crowe! Well, OK, I shan't rest until I ride half as well. Or perhaps a quarter as well. Or...

And...drum roll please...I FINALLY GOT TO SEE GLADIATOR! It was awesome, just as I knew it would be. It was very sad and not nearly as gory as I expected. What was up with the R rating? It could have been a solid PG-13, but not R. But what do I know about movie ratings?! LOL!

Anyway...I said it was very sad. It was, but strangely enough, at the end, I did not cry; I was happy that poor Maximus had finally gone to Elysium to be with Selene and Marcus again. That was what he wanted; in essence, he lived to die. Sounds strange, but it makes sense in context.

The part where I did cry was when Selene and Marcus died, and Maximus found them, buried them, and slept next to their graves. That poor, poor man. No one should have to see what he saw.

Mr C did a great job with that scene; his face just contorted beyond recognition and he cried, I mean really cried. Awwww!! Poor baby. I just wanted to hold him and say "Shh, it's OK, it's OK...they're in Elysium...they're safe now..." Oh dear, I'm making myself maudlin! ;)

Anyway, the only part where I said "Ewwww!" was when I was watching the deleted scenes and somebody passed a plate of fried locusts under the camera. That was disgusting.

They included a special feature, "The Making of Gladiator" (or something like that) on the second disc. Oh my gosh, Russell Crowe should really do more comedy -- he is so unbelievably funny! And the great part is, he's not even really trying to entertain anybody, he's just being himself!

There was one clip where he was waiting in the "arena" for somebody to yell "action!" and the tigers were milling around in there near him. He turned to the camera, put on this great American accent, and played the part of a tour guide. He said something like (and I'm majorly paraphrasing here), "Well, hi, folks, here we are in Malta, and I'll be your tour guide today. What you see behind me is what we call here in Malta a tabby cat..." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I laughed SO HARD. My sides were hurting and I was just about ready to cry with laughter. You'd have to see it to know how funny it was. Right before that, when they were talking about how difficult and scary the tigers were, he just glances up and gives the camera this look, this I'm-just-pretending-to-be-terrified-but-actually-I'm-half-serious LOOK. When he really does turn serious, he says that the lions and tigers were "pretty special" and that he had a lot of respect and admiration for them. He liked working with them. Yay -- we have another thing in common! I love big cats.

Well, I'm sitting here with my live Internet Australian talk radio station playing...a hobby of mine. I like to hear what's going on with the footy games (not that I have any idea what it all means) or what the temperature is in Canberra, Brisbane, Sydney...not to mention it really helps me with the accents. The weather guy just said "Canberra" but it didn't sound like Canberra. It sounded like "Kanbrra." LOL!! As you can tell, it doesn't take much to entertain me. ;)

Well, I've gotta go -- my oldies are sitting there eating pizza and salad without me, and I'm hungwy...*pouty lip*. There! Finally an update. I promise I'll do more soon, hopefully soon after finals are over. Can't wait for that! Everybody asks me brightly, "So are you ready for the semester to end?" I look them straight in the eye and say, deadpan, "I was ready a month ago!"

No, really, I did try...

Well! I had a nice long blog written out for y'all, but the lovely computer whisked it off into cyberspace somewhere and now all you will get is this very abbreviated blog. *sigh...* And people wonder why I hate technology.

Anyway! I will try to write the blog soon. Or should I say, RE-WRITE! Ahem!!

Hugs to y'all. :)

*Note: I just discovered the "Recover Post" button!!!*

**Note to Self: You bloody idiot! Good grief. And you say you're in college?!**

College Life, and Other Things

Hello! It's been a long while. Life is far too busy!! But here I am now. I have several amusing tidbits for you today! :)

First of all, it's the Case of The Holey Marshmallows. No, I didn't misspell that. A while back, Mum bought a bag of rabbit-shaped pastel-coloured Easter marshmallows for us to eat because we didn't have any sweeties in the house. We were enjoying them very much until a few days ago, when Mum got up in the morning to find marshmallows strewn about the counter, riddled with tiny teeth marks and holes. Hmmmm! I WONDER who it could have been? Let's eliminate Dad -- he doesn't like marshmallows, and he wears big clunky false teeth anyway. We'll eliminate Mum, because she does not, and I repeat DOES NOT, ever make a mess on the kitchen counter and leave it that way. I certainly didn't do it. Mitty doesn't get up on the counter. Maggie does, but she's too well-mannered to tear into a bag of marshmallows and leave them full of bite marks. That leaves either a giant rat (don't laugh, we had one of those awhile ago) or...drum roll please...Outlaw!! Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, I believe we have our culprit.

But lest you think my life revolves entirely around cats and their escapades, I will reassure you that it does not. What proof do I offer? A snippet of college life, my friends!

Remember when I told you that I had to do a skit with several people at school? It was Willa Cather's Neighbour Rosicky. We performed the other day, and to my surprise (no, scratch that, utter shock!) the teacher awarded us a grade of 100 and told us it was one of the very best presentations he's ever had in his classroom. Sweet!

The funny thing about this skit was that three of the parts were for men, but our group contained only girls. Ha, ha! I played Anton Rosicky, a Czech farmer. It was cool. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail, dressed in black trousers, a green plaid shirt, and black wool jacket, and...yes, I actually did it...drew a mustache and goatee on myself with eyeliner! Oh, I thought to myself, I do NOT want to leave the ladies' room and go out there where I will be laughed at! But then upon further contemplation, I decided it would indeed be prudent for me to leave the ladies' room due to some rather suspicious looks being shot at me by the other occupants. So, bravely, I marched out with my head held high...well, as high as someone 5'3" tall can hold her head. (And I should "translate" that into meters, but I am far too lazy and I am a math-hater besides. Hmmph.)

It was great! I faked a Czech accent during the whole thing, and got complimented afterward. "Dude, I liked the accent!" yelled out one of the boys in class. Well, OK, he didn't say "dude" but at that point I kind of felt like a dude so it didn't matter. I kept telling myself, "Look, ya barmy sheila, if, in preparation for a movie, Russell Crowe can shave his head, gain two or three stone, or even lose two or three stone, let alone learn different accents so flawlessly that no one could tell it was an accent -- well, what you're doing is easy!" And I did it! I was shaking in my knee-high boots and wishing I were anywhere but there, but I did it. Ha!

"So it's every hand to his rope or gun -- quick's the word and sharp's the action! After all, Surprise is on our side."

Yes, yes, another Master and Commander quote. Sorry. But the same principle applies. And my teacher certainly was very surprised when he saw me march into the room wearing pencilled-on facial hair. His eyebrows met his hairline!

"Well," he said, eyeing me with a private little half-grin, "I'm impressed already!"

LOL! So now you know what I've been up to lately.

Before I sign off, I just remembered that today is Mr Crowe's birthday. There are now officially 20 years between us; he turns 41 today. Happy Birthday, Mr C! Many happy returns of the day! :)

It was my dear friend Jess's birthday recently too. (Happy birthday, sweetie! Love you!) There's now only a year between us. But then, I'll turn 22 in a few months and it will be two years again. Ai yi yi! I can't believe I'm so old! Ah well, with age comes wisdom, they say. And do I ever need it! I've got papers and exams and all that cr--I mean, all that stuff coming up soon. LOL! Owroight, thin, mates, Oi'll be soinin' off naow. Good grief, that was a pitiful accent. I sound much better in person, really, I do! I've been practising...!