ten of the mostest

About three years ago, on my old blog, I made a list of ten of the mostest. And here are ten more of them.

1. Most uncomfortable, crazy honeymoon ever?
This one would be it. Or at least it would be in the top five.

2. Most fun I will never have?



Sigh... if only I could dance.

3. Silliest, most pointless new law?

France's decision to ban the burqa/niqab/etc. As appalled as I am at the idea of wearing full body covering in this way, and as much as I feel that it's probably quite a repressive thing to make someone do, I am even more appalled at a society that thinks it can decide who can and cannot wear what is essentially just another item of clothing. The only effect such a law can have is to make wearing a burqa seem rebellious and therefore attractive.

Go Kenza Drider and a whole bunch of other Muslim women in France for sticking it to the French authorities.

4. Quickest homemade chocolate fix?

Three minute chocolate mug cake. Highly recommended if you are lazy and hungry. Make sure you include the chocolate chips.

Also, on a food- and chocolate-related theme, the recipe I am MOST tempted to use for our Singalong Chitty Chitty Bang Bang party?

Bavarian Decadent Chocolate Cake. [I did some internet research on Bavarian and Bulgarian food - figuring these are close enough to Vulgaria to be acceptable. More on this on some other occasion.]

5. The thing I am most looking forward to about having a job/career?

Money. Even a job that is not paid particularly well could more than double my current income! It sounds incredibly materialistic of me, and partly it is - it will be nice to buy new clothes etc. again - but I am trying to plan for this change wisely, budget well, keep a modest lifestyle and put a sizeable portion aside for savings and charity. Start well, so that I don't get used to squandering too much, and yet buy myself some nice things and enjoy them.

6. Most dreaded sentence?

"Hey Allie - it's Friday." (In a significant tone. Followed shortly by "And Saturday comes afterwards." Followed by mental anguish.)

7. Movie most recently seen?

Never Let Me Go, starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and some guy whose name I forget. I don't regret seeing it - it was good - but I wish I had read the book first, and as films go, it was very intense. Any one read the book, or anything else by Kazuo Ishiguro?

As for DVDs, my flatmates and I watched 27 Dresses last night. It was pretty funny. I was pleasantly surprised.

8. Most enthusiastic musicians?



9. Three things I am most looking forward to over the next month?

(a) Perfecting all the little details of my thesis. Printing it off and getting it bound. Handing it in, getting the photo of this crucial moment, and releasing it into the unknown.

(b) The royal wedding. I feel silly to admit this. I feel like I should be an anti-royalist. But I remember my sister telling me about how exciting it was to watch Charles and Diana's wedding back in 1981, and feeling jealous that she got to see something like that. (I also felt jealous of my dad, that he got to watch the first man landing on the moon, but this isn't in quite the same league.) Now I get a chance to see a royal wedding - it should be fun! I think it would be even more fun to have friends over with whom to watch it, to serve tea and scones, and to ooh and aah over the clothes and to judge every single last detail. Sounds like a plan, Stan.

(b) Our singalong Chitty Chitty Bang Bang party. Of course.

10. The place I would most like to visit, currently?

Israel. I know it seems like a dangerous place to go, but when is Israel ever going to be safe? I want to wander the streets of a place sooooo oooooold. I want to imagine. I want to do my own little pilgrimage. (I want to visit some of the places nearby, too. Damascus. Petra. Tripoli. Cyprus. Et cetera.)

life in allieland

1. Yesterday it was 35*C. I melted.
Right now, it is 13*C. It's raining.
For all you people who do things differently: that's 95*F yesterday, and 55*F today. Quite a difference!
Apparently, tomorrow is going to be hot again, and then we're going to be back to more rain.
This is life in New Zealand.

2. I have until the end of March to finish my thesis, and then, suddenly, my funds will stop. So, I am hunting down jobs to apply for. I have an interview tomorrow for a library job which I would be thrilled to get, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up, in the current job climate, and so I am still looking everywhere I can. Here are some other possibilities:

Do you think I have the "Roman look"?:

Aaand, two along the same lines:


Who knows, if I become desperate enough, I may just develop an obsessive interest in the trucking industry or in big turbos.

3. I am going to buy a car if/when I get a job. I have managed for over two years without one, which is great - but I'm starting to tire of begging rides or being stuck at home. There have been moments the last few weeks where I've just thought to myself, 'I do not care about the expense - I want a car!' such as when I had to walk home from something at midnight along creepy deserted roads last week, or when all I wanted to do, yesterday, was to get wet all over but would have had to sit on a hot bus for an hour just to get to the beach.

4. Boys are weird. Has anyone else noticed?

5. I have briefly reviewed Roma Tearne's The Swimmer on my other blog - I thought this was a lovely book, so check it out, if you get the chance.

6. Today I had to drop my Niece-Aged-2 off at her daycare at 1pm. She hasn't been for a week because she was sick last week, and in any case this is a fairly new place for her. She was also tiring rapidly because it was the afternoon. So she was very anxious about going. First, she refused to get up from her foetal position on the floor to get coat/shoes on. Second, she told me she had a "very bad cough" and couldn't go - "see? *cough* I'm too sick" - and then, third, she clung to me and had to be physically detached from me inside the daycare.
Sigh. I felt soooo bad. I had to remind myself that she WILL be fine but I still felt terrible.

bookology

This week, I have been making a shift - literally and symbolically. Read all about it on Armchair of a Bookologist.

I have also been pondering cool (and hopefully) easy crafts - you can read about it here.