It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

Because it's easier to copy and paste than to write it out... My mother has amazing skills of keeping things for too long. Really.

Lara: I just found a cake mix in the cupboard from 1988. Which means this cake mix moved with us from Seattle to Kalispell and then Kalispell to here. This cake mix has been in my cupboards since I was 7. I don't even know.

Simon: LOL

Lara: If I asked her, she would probably said, "I might need it sometime." "WHY WOULD YOU NEED A LEMON CAKE FROM 1988!?" Zombie Apocalypse.

Simon: You could probably kill a zombie with a 23 year old lemon cake.

Lara: I think so!

Simon: cure for the zombie virus right there.

Lara: As long as you followed the high-altitude baking instructions if you lived here. Otherwise they would be like "this bullshit didn't even rise" *NOMS YOUR FACE*

Simon: LOL well yes

A view of Christchurch from the hills the minute after the quake. I was in the middle of this and so were so many others.

That dust cloud is from collapsing buildings and it is just...so- Indescribable.

On the side of lovely things though, I called my workmates from ACU in Melbourne because they left panicked messages on my Facebook yesterday. It was so nice to talk to them. They put me on speaker phone and they all yelled "HI WE LOVE YOU HOW ARE YOU WE MISS YOU" and various word-clouds of loveliness. Then Lisa spoke to me for a good half an hour before they all got back on to say goodbye. They are so lovely, and I miss them!

Tonight I made a sort of spaghetti sauce out of tinned tomatoes and herbs and spices. It was a little weird, but good! And we ate more of Alison's Amanda-food. And we got water from a tattooed man at a primary school. But he wasn't creepy, he was lovely!

EDIT: A post on Leah's journal of our own photos here In the photo of our rainwater collection, my kitty is staring out the window at Alison taking the photo. She is ADORABLE. /biased.

I am terrified of fireworks. Like...really. When I was younger, my mother took us kids out to Whitefish Lake in Montana to watch a fireworks show on the 4th of July. Only there was a problem and the freaking barge blew up (and that wasn't the last tragedy that day, stupid Independence Day) and so I associate fireworks with that. Oh my god, I'm terrified of heights too and this one time during the county fair, the fireworks show started and for it, they stop the ferris wheel and I got STUCK AT THE TOP while these things went off right over my head. Most people would be thrilled, because it was a great view, or would have been if my eyes were open. I kept screaming and ruining everyone else's fun.

Anyway...it's Guy Fawkes day on the 5th, and the neighbours are already firing off the fireworks. Actual 'explodey in the sky' ones, not the tiny little cones my father used to purchase for my brothers for them to set off in the woods in our backyard mostly aimed at birds or trees or the house or each other (HOLY CRAP how country bumpkin do I SOUND in this entry?!?). And instead of screaming, I flailed a little and then went to stand at the window with Alison to watch them.

And the house didn't burn down yet and no one started screaming and no one was on fire and it was allllll fine. And they were very pretty.

So maybe I can get through this stupid day without having a heart attack.

Dear SPN writers,

We have been through a lot together, you and I. In the beginning it was good and then you kind of lost me in the third season. Then you made me angry, but I stuck with you anyway because I love The Boys.

( Slightly spoilerish for season 6 and very spoilerish for season 5! )

I bought my purple pencil! OH YES! I am not actually that excited about it, but I said I was going to, and I did. Follow through, that's me! Hush, naysayers! I just typed 'hugh'. *giggles*

The tests were fine! I aced the first one which was the 40% of the year's work one. The second one I did very well except on the short answer because I had NO idea what she was getting at for half of them. I answered everything else well though, so the most I can get is 90 but whatever. It's 20%. AND IT HAD MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS oh you easy little things, just GIVE me the points.

And then I rode home on the bus in the midst of a teenage boy kaffe klatsch about which boy at their school looked most like Justin Beiber and my soul cried. I tried to read my book about Soviet Russia but those losers were just too loud and obnoxious and Beibery. "IT'S TOTALLY SETH BECAUSE HE HAS THE HAIR!!!" At least they weren't calling the poor thing a girl for fricking once. Last time I checked, gender wasn't up for someone ELSE to decide.

ANYWAY, so I ran from the bus with glee, happy to be home, and I walked into an art museum in my living room. I am not kidding. Art. Everywhere. Apparently the National Library was getting rid of some of their artwork and because it's government property they can't sell it or give it away. If the people who work there (Alison and Alina) don't take it home, it gets destroyed. My soul weeps AGAIN! Sure, they're reproductions but they are nicely done prints and WHAT?! WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY!

So now there is art EVERYWHERE. It's like a museum giftshop vomited on the walls of the LFoD. I love it!! There's Waterhouses and a Divinci and a bunch of other stuff and ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ it's awesome.

And then I picked up Ariadne to cuddle her and she purred like a fool and drooled happily all over my shoulder. WELCOME HOME!

Only two essays to go :|

I JUST Slept for fourteen HOURS. Yeah. Think I needed that. Anyway, on to the real nitty gritty of this post. New Moon (Sorry, Liv! But to answer your Facebook question, YES I am ashamed.)

I went to see it last night, because I figured why not? Lewi was going out clubbing and movie theatres are cool. Meaning temperature-wise. I don't usually dig a room with sticky floors and frick-tonnes of people. Anyway, I went to a 5:45 session, AKA the LOSERS session. I expected it to be slightly less crowded because...you know...losers. It was not. Now, usually if I arrive before the doors open, I station myself right by the doors so I can get it right away. YES even if it's allocated seating. That's just how I roll, mate. I'm a pushy person, and it annoys me that the usual rate of heading into a theatre is a slow, bovine-like lumber. Ask Clare, who witnessed me telling her to 'just push through!' the crowd of very British people on the Thames river boat, while she looked at me like I had two heads. But dude, I'm American and even I won't go up against a bunch of rampant Twi-hards. I'd have been trampled.

It took the theatre staff roughly until 10 minutes after the ticketed showtime to clean the theatre, and I was praying for their safety as several people decided they were sick of waiting and just barged in. They were promptly thrown back out having hissy fits and saying things like "EDWARD WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!" A weird girl sidled up to me and looked me up and down and we had this ENLIGHTENING conversation:

Her: I'm really looking forward to this.
Me: Oh?
Her: Yeah. Ever since I saw the first movie.
Me: Hmmm.
Her: I never read it. I don't like novels. I read like two lines and then I'm like 'screw this'.
Me: It's not so much a novel as a 'dear diary' moment that goes on for 12,000 pages too long...
Her: ..... Edward's hot. I like your cup.

(Here is where I admit that I bought the 'New Moon Combo' to get the plastic cup with RPattz's face for Jen! Sorry, you have to deal with Kristen and whateverhisnameisdogboy too... But GOODNESS I am so thoughtful!)

Me: Okay.
Her: So yeah, I think it'll be really good.
Me: Mmmm.

And then her friend came to join her and she pointed at me and went "Look, she got the combo with the cup. Haha, freak." And I just refrained from calling her an illiterate, moronic waste of oxygen. Because no one wants to waste a good insult on someone who will go ".....Edward's hot."

We finally were let in to the theatre and we were blessed with hecklers. Normally those are the people I (the pushy American) would shout at to SHUT UP! But they were hilarious. There was an ad that basically insisted that if you wanted to be like Edward you had to drive a Volvo. Sorry, Lewi. And then the hecklers commenced booing every time you saw Edward, and cheering for Jacob. Awesome. Best lines though?:

Bella: "Edward! I'm coming!"
Edward: "No! I don't want you to come!"

Whomever wrote the screenplay? Standing ovation. You basically explained the plot of the first three and a half novels in two lines so utterly perfectly that no one could have done it better.

And the award for best actor goes to RPattz's painted on abs. Brilliant.

Oh, how was the movie? It was alright. I think Kristen Stewart cracked a smile. But only one, after all, she is Bella Swan.

There's a man at the cafe downstairs who has a rather unique accent. He's incredibly cheerful and always friendly, but most of the time I can't understand him and that makes me really nervous. Social situations, you know... He's from an Eastern European country...you know, previously part of the USSR but not Russia. I do not know which part and if he told me I think I would have a hard time understanding what he meant, which makes me feel bad because he's so lovely!

Anyway, apparently last week Joanne asked for a coke and he asked, in his loud and jolly voice, "DO YOU WANT A BIG COCK OR A SMALL COCK?!" because apparently in his accent Coke=cock. Now I wasn't there last week, and I had never experienced this because I drink Pepsi.

Until today.

Me: "I'd like a Pepsi Max, please."

He wandered away to search the fridge and he came back. "No Pepsi. 'sall gone! You want a cock!? 'snice cock! You know you want a cock!"

Me: ".... nothanks"

Turns out there was Pepsi Max anyway, he was just looking in the wrong fridge. Still, the entire cafe heard this and died laughing. Me? I just died.

EDIT: And a student just sent in an email that said

"Dear Lisa,

sorry for my stupid."

AWESOME.