Bright Copper Kettles

how to pronounce stuff

2008-04-13T18:10:00.001+12:00

Ooh love this! thanks Darren.

Forvo - All the words in the world. Pronounced.

So useful!

101 Things List Update

2008-03-09T12:26:00.006+13:00

I am going to rewrite 101 Things in 1001 Days list cause things change.

These are the things I have done:
26. I have paid off my credit card
27. I have paid off student loan
29. I am getting paid
31. I only work the hours that I am paid for (for 4 weeks in a row)
43. All the USB ports on my laptop are working
55. I know whether my video player works or not
57. I own a digital slr
59. I have new glasses and/or contacts
66. go to a music festival or gig/concert overseas (not NZ or Australia)
68. get a professional massage
86. go to work drinks at least once
95. do a tarot reading for someone other than me

These are the things I have done that I will need to do again:
37. clear out gmail account
39. clean sofas
40. reorganize flickr account
44. All my cds/data are backed up and organised
45. My Phd stuff is cleared out, sorted out and stored.
46. All my digital photos are archived
58. I have been to the dentist
60. visit grandmother
61. visit mother

These are the things that I have started:
47. I have sold or given away all the books I don’t want
48. I have sold or given away all clothes that I won’t ever wear again unless I absolutely love them
50. I have sorted out all my stuff into sell/give/throw away and keep pile
51. I have sold/given/thrown away everything in the sell/give/throw away piles
52. All my cds are in storage
75. try 3 new dance classes (bellydance, flamenco)
97. throw 5 parties (1/5)

These are the things I have changed my mind about doing and are coming off the list:
30. I am getting paid my goal income or better
64. see the mars volta live
91. write a WHOLE song complete and final and finished
92. make a webpage
93. make a webmap
94. do a complete astrological chart/reading for someone other than me
100. read the last 2 books in the grigori series
101. find the 1st book in the grigori series

These are things that may remain on the list unless I can think of better things:
28. I have paid back all other loans
32. I have my own company
33. My company does something or some things
34. Everyone who owes me money has paid me back
35. Unsubscribe from the unnecessary and unused
36. clear out uni email account
38. tidy up files on laptop
41. make a list of all my blogs
42. fix blogs
49. I have gotten rid of all shoes that I will never wear again
53. I have returned all cds that are not mine
54. I have returned all books that are not mine
56. I have a copy of Doomsday on dvd
62. get a surfing lesson/s
63. go on a surf holiday
65. see the queens of the stone age live
67. go to every art gallery within 1km radius at least once
69. do the waikaremoana lake walk
70. go to a classical concert
71. try rock-climbing
72. dye hair
73. straighten hair
74. get a tattoo
76. visit Greece
77. kayak around Mediterranean
78. visit South America
79. go snowboarding
80. learn how to do yoga
81. regular (5 days/week) pilates/yoga/dance for 2 months
82. I can do right leg splits
83. I can do left leg splits
84. I can do 10 real press ups in a row
85. drink a glass of water every morning for 60 days in a row
87. I smile at everyone I see/meet/talk to (for a week)
88. finish 5 paintings
89. plug my bass in and play it for at least 15 minutes
90. I can play the moonlight sonata on keyboard/piano
96. sit in albert park for a day reading and people watching and picnicking and taking photos
98. make a tarot covers/cases for the decks without covers/cases
99. sell my bead stuff or make something with it

aargh!

2007-06-01T17:30:00.000+12:00

There are too many social webby things for me to keep track of... facebook, friendster, flickr, that music one, geni, linkedin, twitter, jaiku, and the others I can't remember off the top of my head and the others that I have registered for and forgotten... and then the slightly less "networky" interwebby things like the blogs (I forget how many I have now) and the newsreaders (again several, none of which I use) and lots lots more... eek!

Take last.fm for example. A couple of people mentioned it today and I thought "oooh, that sounds very cool, I should register!" Well. It turns out I have registered. In 2005. Woops. Then the inevitable trying to remember my password (no I don't trust password banks) etc... and then realising why I don't use it... voila! a whole couple of hours wasted. Yeah. I exaggerate, maybe an hour at the most.

Maybe I should boycott all of them. Or at least pose the question "how does this enhance my life?"

i wish i had wheatgrass

2007-06-01T14:09:00.000+12:00

but this will do. I feel MUCH better now and my green craving is almost appeased.

Smoothie
1/2 bag of spinach
2 bananas
handful of frozen mango
handful of frozen berries
apple juice
goji berries
maca powder
spirulina
cacao nibs
flax seed oil
cocounut oil

nothing's right without you here

2007-05-26T17:02:00.000+12:00

I am at a gig. Between bands. It is hazy and I am nightdreaming and not quite fitting in and not quite caring. Things are fine but not right. And then all of a sudden a song catapults into sharp focus. There is something about it. I am not sure if it is the melody, the bassline, the voice or the lyrics:

there's something natural in the way you touch me, it's a feeling that I can't describe, something mystic in the soul connection, something magic in your misty eyes... there's something that I can't explain about this, there's something something that I can't explain... it is what it is...

Then someone real interrupts me, is talking at me, but I am captured by the song, the song is more real than the people around me. And I know it is going to end and I am going to talk and forget it, so I scrawl words on a coaster and continue the night. But it was a moment of change.

When I get home I google the lyrics. It is a cover of a Fat Freddy's song. Flashback. By The Twilight Singers and Mark Lanegan. So perhaps it was the voice that hooked me, Mark Lanegan's voice is hypnotic to me. It is probably my favourite voice of all time. Yes, I like him better than Maynard and better than Chris and better than Johnny.

So I am caught in an interweb and synchronicity storm. Connections everywhere. It all fits in a weird way. And then I stumble across another cover by The Twilight Singers and Mark Lanegan - Live With Me (Massive Attack). Wow. It is one of those songs, you know the songs that haunt you, transform you, that reach into places rarely touched, that twist your insides out. Or maybe it is just me. I don't even have the words to describe it. I seem to have lost my words somewhere along the way. Just as well these songs have words.

it don't matter, when you turn
gonna survive, you live and learn
I've been thinking about you, baby

by the light of dawn,
and in my blues ... day and night ... I've been missing you
I've been thinking about you baby
come live with me

either way, win or lose
when you're born into trouble
you live the blues
I've been thinking about you baby
see it almost makes me crazy

nothing's right, without you here
I'd give all that I have, just to keep you near
I wrote you a letter, I tried to, make it clear
you don't seem to think that I'm sincere
I've been thinking about you, baby
come live with me

plans and schemes, hopes and fears
dreams I've denied, for all these years
I've been thinking about you, baby
makes me wanna...

nothing's right, if you ain't here
I'd give all that I have, just to keep you near
I wrote you a letter, I tried to ,make it clear,
but you don't seem to think that I'm sincere

I've been thinking about you, baby
come live with me
come live with me
come live with me

delicious links

2007-05-22T23:38:00.000+12:00

Blog of found passive aggressive notes.

Reading Speed thing.

Article on all those people out and about during the day time when most people are working.

jean stress

2007-05-20T20:48:00.000+12:00

My goodness clothes shopping is stressful! And jean shopping is even more stressful, especially when you haven't bought jeans for over 8 years and have no clue what size you are or what brands/styles fit/suit you.

So it is winter. And apparently my weight is still dropping or my clothes are being stretched by elves in the middle of the night. And I am getting sick of pulling things up and wearing clothes that don't fit. So last week I finally succumbed and went shopping for jeans and other clothes. Ick! I HATE malls. No wonder I have been putting it off. And most of the clothes are ugly besides. Anyway I only managed to find an OK pair of jeans that will do for work before I couldn't stand it anymore and had to run away and recuperate. It is such a pity that I can't try things on online.

So the clothing problem is not solved. And neither is the jean problem.

And I was thinking that skinny jeans are so very ugly, but maybe it is just that they don't look that great on most body types. Maybe I can get away with it. Because I am VERY attracted to the hot pink drainpipes I found surfing whilst surfing the interweb for jean wisdom. I wonder if I can get away with that.

the smacking thing

2007-03-30T18:34:00.000+12:00

I was going to share my opinions. But thought better of it. So I will just say:

It is fantastic that so many people care so much about the wellbeing of children and families that this smacking thing is such a big issue!

my current alltime favourite albums (subject to change and in not much of an order)

2007-03-29T22:00:00.000+12:00

Grace - Jeff Buckley
Sing The Sorrow - AFI
Siamese Dream - Smashing Pumpkins
Nevermind - Nirvana
Aenima - Tool
White Pony - Deftones
Hysteria - Def Leppard
The Real Thing - Faith No More
Blood Sugar Sex Magick - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Weezer - Weezer
Songs For The Deaf - Queens Of The Stoneage
Solo Piano - Philip Glass
s.c.i.e.n.c.e - Incubus
Korn - Korn
Never Never Land - Unkle
Funeral - The Arcade Fire
Superunknown - Soundgarden
Dirt - Alice in Chains
Last Exit To Garageland - Garageland
Pawn Shoppe Heart - The Von Bondies
Lullabies to Paralyze - Queens Of The Stoneage
Aurora Gory Alice - Letters to Cleo
Cannon Fodder - Future Stupid
OK Computer - Radiohead
The Bends - Radiohead
Title Of Record - Filter
Fly My Pretties Live At Bats - Fly My Pretties
Mark Hollis - Mark Hollis
Bubblegum - Mark Lanegan
De-Loused in the Comatorium - The Mars Volta
Ten - Pearl Jam
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Joshua Tree - U2
Blink 182 - Blink 182
Clarity - Jimmy Eat World
Misery Is A Butterfly - Blonde Redhead
Mezzanine - Massive Attack
American III - Johnny Cash
American IV - Johnny Cash
Cure For Pain - Morphine
Appetite For Destruction - Guns n Roses
Kick - INXS
MTV Unplugged in New York - Nirvana
Black Holes & Revelations - Muse
Ritual de lo Habitual - Janes Addiction
Traction - Supergroove
Thriller - Michael Jackson
The Black Album - Metallica
vs - Pearl Jam
The Downward Spiral - Nine Inch Nails
Arrival - Abba
The Crane Wife - The Decemberists
The Great Destroyer - Low
The Wall - Pink Floyd
A City By The Light Divided - Thursday
How to Steal the World - Helicopter Girl
New Bottles, Old Medicine - Medicine Head
So Tonight That I Might See - Mazzy Star
Adam & Eve - Catherine Wheel
Abba - Abba
Without You I'm Nothing - Placebo
Pipe Line Under The Ocean - Pluto
Palo Santo - Shearwater
Plans - Death Cab For Cutie
You See Colours - Delays
Fashion Nugget - Cake
The Warning - Hot Chip
Welcome to Sky Valley - Kyuss
Purple - Stone Temple Pilots
The Sunset Tree - The Mountain Goats
Get Ready - New Order
A Place in the Sun - Lit
Home - Sevendust
So Jealous - Tegan and Sara
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Brothers In Arms - Dire Straits
Jawbox - Jawbox
Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman
Geographica - Weta
Gravity - Our Lady Peace
City Chorus - Age Pryor

so I keep saying...

2007-03-01T23:39:00.000+13:00

... although do I really need even more alone time?!

Although I could always use a break and a trip far far away...

You scored as Goddess. You are a goddess. Your constantly helping people with their problems, but you never take time for you. You should try to take some alone time. Take a trip far away, where noone knows you. It will be good for you, because you deserve a break.

Goddess

100%

Drow

83%

Sorceress

83%

Wolf

67%

Elf

67%

Shadow Spirit

67%

Dragon

50%

Vampyre

42%

Faerie

42%

Zombie

17%

What ancient breed are you?
created with QuizFarm.com

So that's what a "Drow" is!

yeah yeah... i didn't need to do a quiz to tell me this...

2007-03-01T23:29:00.000+13:00

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and don't enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you.

Serenity (Firefly)

94%

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

81%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

81%

Moya (Farscape)

69%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

63%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

63%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

56%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

50%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

50%

Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica)

50%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

44%

SG-1 (Stargate)

44%

Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
created with QuizFarm.com

Thanks span!

delicious link

2007-02-12T23:37:00.000+13:00

God As Computer Programmer

Am not sure if this is funny if you are not a programmer... any non-programmers (are there any?!) lemme know!

As well as being funny it is also quite profound and wise! For example:

Q: What is the one true religion?
A: All systems have their advantages and disadvantages, so just pick
the one that best suits your needs and don't let anyone put you down.

question of the day

2007-02-11T22:31:00.000+13:00

Is it only the sugar in processed food that is addictive or are there other things that are addictive as well?

Before Christmas I was really happy with my diet. I ate what I felt like, when I felt like it and I felt GREAT. I just listened to what my body wanted, and it wanted fresh fruit and vegetables and that's about it. Then Christmas happened and I had a couple of weeks where I ate a) too much and b) stuff I didn't feel like eating because a) I felt pressured into it to make other people feel good and b) there weren't any alternatives.

Now I can't listen to what my body wants to eat because it is telling me to eat processed and/or fatty and/or sugary food. And it is telling me to eat it continuously. Grrr. It is especially annoying because I can now tell that the processed food makes me lethargic and drained and I even get an almost allergic reaction to heavily processed stuff. Yet I still want to eat it! GRRR!

Maybe I need to fast. Yes. That is what I will do. As soon as I finish my hot cross buns...

question of the day

2007-02-08T21:31:00.000+13:00

What matters more: what is true? or what you believe?

delicious links

2007-02-07T22:28:00.000+13:00

Sky Map Thingy cause I like stars.

Important Philosophical Quotations cause I like philosophy and I like quotations. "Important" might be subjective though. Particularly like "the unexamined life is not worth living."

underwear is expensive

2007-01-03T21:58:00.000+13:00

I just spent $100 and it was a sale and I didn't get a lot:
2 singlet tops
1 bra
2 pairs of knickers
1 pair of board shorts.

Dear oh dear. That was my BDO ticket. And I really could do with more. Baggy falling off clothes is one thing (although I was unreasonably upset today when my favourite board shorts are definitely too big to wear) but baggy falling off underwear is another. Why is underwear so expensive?! And why are almost all the bras padded and/or synthetic and/or decorated with lace and flowery bright designs? Why don't they make more underwear that I like?

And I will have to take the board shorts back. It seems I have dropped two dress sizes, not one, unless they are doing funny things with dress sizing. I think I have only dropped one underwear size. So how does that work?

my list my list!

2007-01-03T21:19:00.000+13:00

Thanks to span for reminding me about my 101 Things in 1001 Days list! I had forgotten. I must update it because things change.

I find it really hard thinking of goals/dreams I really want to do though. I have never really been career driven or had big dreams about doing big things. The things that have always mattered the most to me is a)the people I am with and b) learning stuff about me and the world and other people. It is not the sort of thing that easily translates into a list of 101 things I really really want to do. I mean, if I am happy and I have people around me whom I love and they are happy and I have the freedom and resources to do what takes my fancy I don't care all that much whether I do any of that list!

Anyway, at the moment being a housewife and just pottering around doing what I feel like appeals. Although "pottering around doing what I feel like" could include any number of things including consulting and travelling and research and creating. I am almost certain that I won't usually feel like doing housework. And I guess I am also very particular about where I would be happy being a housewife.

proving God

2006-12-20T17:36:00.000+13:00

Odd and bemusing conversations going on at Sir Humphreys about Free Will and God. They are a couple of my favourite topics, but it seems rather pointless to participate.

It is odd because in my opinion:

God is not somethng you prove
proof is over-rated and over-worshipped
God (or whatever) is as "natural" as anything else
it seems like lots of people who comment on those are there to prove themselves right and make everyone else agree with them. As opposed to listening and to expanding their ideas and maybe seeing that they might actually be saying the exact same thing a lot of the time

Perspective really makes such a difference.

carnivale

2006-12-03T18:30:00.000+13:00

I am addicted to Carnivale. I Have just finished Season 1 and about to start Season 2. I do like dark complex unobvious magical tv series. I would buy it if I wasn't on a budget, but it is definitely going on my "I want to own" list!

collision of minds

2006-11-27T17:11:00.000+13:00

So I have been doing flaky reading and "research" into flaky spiritual stuff. One of the key ideas I have recently come across is the Multiverse.

Then I come across this post about the Many Worlds Interpretation (aka Multiverse) of Quantum Physics (thanks Chefen!).

I adore synchronicities and I have always been very fond of what I think quantum physics is (which may be completely different from what it actually is because I find all those articles and books about it quite tiresome to wade through).

Now I admit that I didn't carefully read the "flaky" theory of the Multiverse either. It seemed rather tedious as well. I just made up what I thought it sounded like and added it to my philipsophy/cosmology. Details schmetails.

Yeah. So I guess this is a post about nothing really. I guess I just like my idea of the multiverse and like that it has come up synchronously and I like it when spirit and science collide. Or at least when I imagine they do.

radiant souls!

2006-11-21T22:15:00.000+13:00

I found this cool site: SpiritLibrary , which is a RadiantSouls project.

The library contains channeled information from a variety of sources. Very easy to read, search, use! And very pretty too!

delicious link

2006-11-16T21:17:00.000+13:00

This looks like a super cool hotel!

I particularly like this room and this room and this room.

Oh and this one.

And this one.

And how could I forget this.

green thing

2006-11-15T19:21:00.000+13:00

I am going through a green phase at the moment, specifically apple green. I have been painting a huge painting that consists of only the one colour paint (apple green) and now I have invented a brilliant and yummy green "recipe" for "dinner." Although of course it doesn't involve cooking or anything much at all and it would be just as good for breakfast, lunch, dessert, or as a snack.

1. Chop up 3 apples, leaving the skin on.
I used granny smith apples because they are green and they match my painting and the limes, but I suppose you could use other types of apple if you really wanted to.
2. Squeeze the juice of 1 lime over the apples.

The End.

I had intended to freeze the apples (with lime quarters) but I made the mistake of tasting it first and could not stop eating. So maybe I will make some more and see what freezing does. It probably does bad things to apples. Where are the apple food scientists when you need them?! I probably ought not wake them up in the middle of the night just to ask about this.

101 Things Update

2006-11-09T18:45:00.000+13:00

I have been paid!! Finally. Yay! What a relief.

So. I have now completed these list items:
26. I have paid off my credit card
29. I am getting paid

Unfortunately item number 64 (see the mars volta live) is further away. How disappointing! It was the thing I was looking forward to. And I don't even know if I will want to go see them in March.

dreaming - reply to lucyna

2006-11-08T13:27:00.000+13:00

Silly computer. I can't post a comment to my own blog. Nevermind. I suppose Mercury is still retrograde (communication & technical problems). And the work phones/networks have been very very dodgy as well. Anyway, I am getting off-track. Here is my reply to Lucyna's comment from the post before this one. Chefen is right, she does have a talent for starting very interesting conversations!

Words that are in italics are lucyna's. Words that aren't are mine. Warning it is long and waffly and probably very boring for anyone only interested in the nitty gritty of material life. And probably very annoying for people who like things black and white with definite opinions and answers.

Well, on some level you are correct in that life is just a part of a much greater reality
Well, I think that you and I believe so. Maybe other people don't? Or maybe other people are not as interested in thinking about it? Hard to tell and I guess it does not matter ;)

I think what gets me going on comparing life to a dream is the implication that nothing we do matters, just like in a dream nothing matters particularly much.
Ah. I think I see where you are coming from now! Yes we have different philosophies and views on this. I am not very good with the middle of the road stuff. My view is both that nothing matters and that everything matters. Which confuses people (especially logical rational scientists) and makes it hard to explain and so I don't often try. Although it is not exactly "nothing matters and everything matters," those are just the best words I can find at the moment to describe what I think/feel. All these sorts of ideas are like concept clouds in my head. They are more feelings/knowings. I don't think about these things in words, so it is hard to translate. Or perhaps it is beyond words? Perhaps that is why there is so much metaphor and analogy, which adds to the confusion and disagreements around spirtuality and religion - we are trying to use everyday language to describe something that is beyond language? I find it easier to paint these ideas. Or just think them quietly to myself.

I like the "nothing matters" part because I think that many people are very concerned and focused on things that do not actually matter. I sometimes get caught up and obsess about things that are not that important.

Life is far more real than that - what we do can have very permanent consequences
I agree. Everything we do has consequences. I would even go so far as to say that everything we think and feel has consequences. I guess where we might differ is that I think dreams are real too and have consequences, and that the "bigger dream" is real and has consequences. So there are different levels of reality,and different levels of consequences and different levels of things mattering.... hmm...

And so permanence is relative. What is permanent in the dream, is not permanent in real life. And if real life is like a dream in that there is a greater reality, perhaps what is permanent here is not permanent "out there." Which would make sense if you believe in everlasting life and that death is only the body dying, not the soul. Although perhaps it is not supposed to "make sense."

Hmmm.. have not thought about this before... so this is just what is popping out of my fingers as I type... interesting...

You can kill someone close to you in a dream, and the next morning you wake up and they are very much alive as an example
Yes! Although I am sure we will interpret this differently :)
I think that the consequences of killing someone in a dream are only effective (not the right word) in the dream, ie if you kill someone in a dream then they are only dead in the dream (unless you have weird dreams like I do). But in the dream you often would not know that they are not really dead and that it is only a dream (unless you are good at dreaming like you are). But the consequences of what you do in the dream also ripple out into real life. I know if I had a dream about killing someone I would feel/think and maybe behave differently in "real life" because of it. It would make me question things and look more closely at my life and maybe change things.

Perhaps saying that life is like a dream is questioning what we mean by permanence.

Having said all that I think that it is important to do the best you can regardless of whether it is a dream or real life or wherever you find yourself. But I also believe that everyone is doing their best anyway. So therefore it does not really matter. It's one of those duality things again.

I also believe that people should do/stand up for what is important to them. Which is why I like reading what you write and discussing things with you. I like that you have firm beliefs and stand up for them. I do not have to believe the same thing, although I suspect many of our beliefs overlap and we just have different interpretations of things. For example, I would not call myself "Christian" because my interpretation of what Jesus said is very different from most other people's. But I am choosing to believe in and follow what he is said to have said (interpreted in my own way) so I am not exactly not a Christian either.

I like the idea that we are in exile here, this is not our natural reality but it is one we have to live in and it is one we have to succeed in to get back to where our true home is
This is a common theme among all religions isn't it? I like this idea too but I don't think of it as exile. I think of it as we are here to play. Or perhaps I should say I am here to play and have fun and learn. I also think of "true home" as more of a state or another dimension rather than a place that you travel in space to go to. The home metaphor is good though. It is hard to think in those extra dimensions!

These beliefs suit me at the moment. I am quite sure they would not suit everyone. That's OK. By the same token other people's beliefs are not necessarily good for me. Which reminds me of another couple of quotes (paraphrased) I like at the moment:
Beliefs are just thoughts you think a lot.
It does not matter what you believe because what is true is not dependent on your belief and it will be true regardless.