It's Oscar time of year again! I was looking at the nominations last night and I'm very disappointed that Star Trek isn't nominated for Best Picture. I'm also upset that Up is because this means that Beauty and the Beast is no longer the only animated film to have that honour. (Yes, I am aware that I'm being petty and selfish. Deal with it.)

I plan to continue the tradition (that I started last year) of staying up to watch the live show while making LJ posts about all the goings on. Most of my commentary last year was about the dresses and the awesomeness of Hugh Jackman. Hopefully this year's hosts will provide me with similar amounts of amusement, although I doubt anything can top the opening musical number.

I also plan to do predictions again, although my ability to make informed choices will be hampered by the fact that out of all the films nominated for various awards I have seen a grand total of three of them. And none of those three are nominated for any of the big awards, they're all things like make-up and sound editing.

Fandom post ahead! I'm not sure if anyone on my friends list is actually going to be interested in this, but I've written it and I'm going to post it.


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This list came about because I was watching a programme about the greatest TV shows of the decade. It was a terrible list that made no sense and made me quite angry so I decided to write my own. But instead of TV programmes I decided to do pairings that I’ve supported from the past ten years. They bring me squee and sadness in equal measure yet I still ship my little heart out.

The Rules: For a ship to be included it must have existed, at least in part, during the ten years spanning 2000 to 2009. So ships from programmes that started in the nineties and ran into the noughties are ok, but ships from programmes that finished before 2000 are not, even if I discovered/continued shipping them in the noughties. (Sorry Maddie/David.)

Because there was no way I was going to be able to put these in order of preference (I love them all!) I’ve listed them in chronological order instead:

( You have to be with the person you love. )

Weee, no work for me today! We're not even open so I don't have to feel guilty about not making it in. Instead I have gone out and taken lots of pretty pictures of the snow with my shiny camera.

( Snow )

Happy New Year everyone. I hope people had fun at midnight. I was at home watching the fireworks on TV and drinking champagne with my parents. Yeah, I'm just that cool.

London's fireworks were very impressive this year though, much more so than they have been previously.

Anyway, on to my traditional New Year memes:

( Meme One: The Questions )

( Meme Two: The Sentences )

I'm glad to see the Queen has come to her senses and corrected what I have long thought to be an inexcusable oversight in the New Year Honours List.

I raise my glass to you, Sir Patrick Stewart.

Happy Boxing Day!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We did and now we have enough alcohol and chocolate to last us into June. Knowing my family though we should get through it long before then. Maybe we'll still have some in the new year if we're lucky.

In true family tradition we played Trivial Pursuit today, which lasted a few hours. I won, which was pretty awesome cos I came from behind to snatch victory from the two people who had got all their wedges way before me and had had many, many attempts at the final question.

I may be slightly drunk right now cos we also had one of my Christmas presents, a bottle of champagne, while playing and Dad and I have now moved on to the Bundaberg rum. Yay Australia!

Good news: Due to adverse weather conditions we closed the shop early so I got to leave half an hour before I was supposed to.

Bad news: Due to adverse weather conditions the roads were packed with cars and it took us two hours to get home. That's two hours to drive two miles. At one point we were averaging 0.8mph. Fun times!

So, apparently whining on Livejournal has a positive effect on the outside world. Interesting.

Today a nice man came and brought us warmth by fixing the heating. Now the main complaint is that it's too hot in certain areas. After freezing for so long I don't like to complain about this but I do kinda agree. Apparently maintaining a reasonable temperature is beyond the abilities of my workplace.

Also, we get to wear Santa hats. Some of the staff were Scrooges and refused to do so but a lot of us spent the day sporting our festive headgear. That's because we're awesome and they're not. :p

Also also, I have a Christmas LJ theme. Woo!

Today's Writers Block question: Have you ever walked off a job on the spot? What drove you to it? Did you regret it afterwards?

Hilariously appropriate because I am so very tempted to do exactly that and it's only my constant reminding myself of the consequences that stops me.

For one thing the stockroom is fucking freezing cos the heating doesn't work. We've got little portable heaters but they only warm the area directly in front of them, which isn't overly useful when the job involves walking up and down the stockroom. The result is a lot of unhappy staff who can't feel their fingers and customers who actually comment on how cold their items are when we bring them out.

Also, I can see my breath at the very back of the stockroom. THIS CAN'T BE RIGHT!

Another thing is that the company I work for is made up of miserable Scrooges. I suggested we dress up for Christmas Eve cos dressing up is fun and makes people happy. But no, apparently our area manager thinks it doesn't look professional. IT'S FUCKING CHRISTMAS EVE! WE CAN'T DRESS UP ONE DAY OF THE YEAR?! One of my colleagues is pleased with this as she hates the idea of dressing up and refuses to even put on a Santa hat. Miserable Scrooges everywhere!

Of course miserable Scrooges are not limited to work, they're in my family too. Once again I seemed to be the only person who actually cared about decorating the house this year. Mum did a lot too but I think that was because she saw how important it was to me. Dad and Robert didn't really care. Dad even suggested putting the tree in the side passage. For those of you who don't know my house, imagine a utility room attached to the kitchen. Yes, he wanted to put the tree in a room we only go into a few times a day and always with the purpose of doing something else. Surely the tree should be somewhere you spend a lot of time, like the living room.

Fortunately I was very insistent and there is a very nice, highly decorated (by Mum and myself) tree over on the other side of the room I am currently in.

But I am trying (and kinda failing) not to let it all get me down and I am determined to enjoy Christmas this year. I have high hopes for this weekend and seeing London's Christmas decorations. Don't fail me London!

So, my totally awesome new Twilight fleece has been keeping me snuggly and warm at night. And during the day. Oh yeah, I am officially the coolest person in the world.

I may lose it to McGee though, he's really taken to it.

I saw New Moon at the weekend. It was awesome. And by 'awesome' I mean 'terrible'.

I still can't wait for Eclipse though. It's going to be epic....ly bad.

In other news, I think there is a conspiracy to stop me sleeping. I get over the jetlag right about the time that Robert brings home his two cats from his old house. Unfortunately the cats have to kept inside for two weeks, which they are not happy about, and they spend much of the night meowing at my window or running around and generally being noisy.

In other other news, it's getting cold. (Yes, I have amazing powers of observation. What would you lot do without me?) Anyway, it's getting cold and my quilt is a light summer quilt that will not keep me nearly warm enough during these harsh upcoming winter months. My solution is to buy some kind of blanket to go over it. Which brings me to....

The Twilight fleece blanket.

Would it be wrong of me? Would you all shun me in disgust? I have a £10 gift card that I got free so it's not like I'd be spending proper money on the fleece, just a couple of pounds.

Just think of all the joy I'd have, sleeping with Edward (and Jacob and Bella) every night.

It's wrong that I'm seriously considering this, isn't it?

Greetings everyone! I have returned! At some time I will tell you all about my trip and share some of the 849 photographs that I took there!

But that time is not today. Because I am tired. Very, very tired. I'm finding it very difficult to get back into a proper sleeping rhythm. I force myself to stay awake until my normal bedtime but still wake up every hour or so during the night and have trouble getting back to sleep.

I would love to be able to just crash and sleep solidly for eight hours. That would be soooo good. Six hours would be pretty sweet too.

I had hoped to say more this entry but it's taken me far too long to write even this. Thinking, like keeping my eyes open, is hard.

Hello everyone.

Paul and I are in a shopping centre in Sydney. We are full of cake and doughnuts. This is good.

It is very hot here and we spent yesterday on Bondi beach. This is also good.

We are sunburnt. This is not so good but we have learnt our lesson and are now liberally applying sun cream whenever we go out.

How is the weather at home? :)

Only a few HOURS to go now! Eeeeee!

Yes, I'm still doing my usual CAPSLOCK Friday. Just a bit EARLIER than usual cos I FLY out tonight. I took today OFF work and it feels kinda WEIRD to be sitting at home at the moment. I've DONE my last minute packing and now there's not much ELSE to do before heading off later.

It still doesn't feel ENTIRELY real. Sometimes it does and I feel extremely EXCITED, but then at other times I have to keep REMINDING myself that I'm actually going. I find myself thinking of what to have for DINNER tonight then remember that I'll be at the AIRPORT to eat.

I don't think TILLY is very happy. It's pretty OBVIOUS to her that SOMETHING is happening. She was climbing over my SUITCASE earlier and she keeps LOOKING at me now. I hope she FORGIVES me for leaving her for two weeks.

I wonder if MCGEE will take over my BEDROOM while I'm gone. It wouldn't SURPRISE me.

FURY probably won't care.

ALSO, BEHOLD NEW LJ THEME!

Ok, I know it's a few days late, but I have Halloween pictures! I didn't post them on Sunday cos I was packing and getting ready for Sydney (yay!), I didn't post them yesterday cos I was at work until 8pm (boo!) and I didn't post them on Monday cos I'm lazy like that.

( Spooky Pumpkin Goodness )



I love this picture. :)

Once again, a most excellent Halloween. No Trick or Treaters this year so we have a bag of chocolate we'll just have to eat ourselves. Oh the hardship!

So, it's FRIDAY and that means CAPSLOCK day.

For some reason writing feels HARD. I've been TIRED all week, possibly because of the CLOCKS (damn clocks) or possibly because work has been very BUSY (damn customers).

I've also been subjected to more CHRISTMAS songs at work. And they're not JUST Christmas songs, oh no, they're BELOVED Christmas songs covered by UNSIGNED artists and they OFFEND my very being. I have to LISTEN to these artists RUIN songs that I love OVER and OVER again.

But looking on the BRIGHT SIDE (if there is one) is that it makes listening to CHRISTMAS music in OCTOBER not so bad because it's not PROPER Christmas music.

It is still VERY ANNOYING though.

Well, ENOUGH of that. It's HALLOWEEN tomorrow! YAY! I have PUMPKINS to carve. Robert and Kat did theirs YESTERDAY while I carved some PEPPERS instead.

There were HALLOWEEN treats and CAKE in the staff room at work courtesy of the one member of staff who takes day even more SERIOUSLY than I do. It was truly DELICIOUS cake.

I am currently drinking AUSTRALIAN wine. Only ONE week to go!

Look! I have a shiny new Halloween theme! With less than a week to go I feel the time is right for using it. It's not like I'm playing Christmas songs in October or anything.

Oh...wait. We played Christmas songs at work.

Yes, seriously. I did have a bit of a laugh about it with a customer though. I told her I was appalled at us. Although having said that, I only remember hearing one Christmas song. Maybe they're easing us into it.

In other news, Paul and I saw Wicked at the weekend. It was excellent, although a bit hard to understand at some points. The opening song was almost entirely incomprehensible but fortunately it got a lot better as it went on.

I just saw an advert for cake and now I want some. Alas, I am cake-less.

HELLO EVERYONE!

Thank you for all your REPLIES to my last POST. They are much APPRECIATED.

Today was turning out pretty CRAPPY too, there were bouts of insane BUSYNESS and everyone was in a BAD MOOD but then these people came in with a PUPPY and everyone went OMG SUCH A CUTE PUPPY and PEACE and HARMONY were restored to the LAND.

Cute ANIMALS make everything BETTER.

Today I got written up in the infringement diary for not smiling.

God, I hate retail.

Today a customer told me I had a lovely smile and a great sense of humour. Then he complimented me to my manager, saying that he was impressed with how friendly I was and that I should get a pay rise.

Clearly he was a very wise man. :p And just a little bit mad. :)

I suppose I should be CAPSLOCKING since it is FRIDAY.

I plan to go get some AUSTRALIAN DOLLARS tomorrow. We fly out THREE WEEKS today and it's feeling a BIT more REAL now but still feels like I've got LOADS of time. Which I DON'T.

I am EXCITED though.