1. Dear Australia,
Yes, yes, you are wild, and rugged, and will not be tamed, we get it. After the floods on the east coast, the cyclones (yes, plural, I was paying attention), and now the bushfires on the west coast, all in the past 2 months, it's been kind of hard to miss.
So you've made your point.
Now, quit it!
Love,
Regi.

2. It is quiet in Internet-lockdown! There was almost nothing on my FList! (By "nothing" I mean I didn't have to skip=40 every day.) But at least I remained unspoilt! Sooo thankful for that. And I'm out of lockdown now, until tomorrow when I have to go straight back to it, but since I get two episodes of Glee in one week I can't complain about that too much. I'll probably have something to say about episode 2x11 after I've seen it a second time, so that may be coming up soon. In the meantime I can read my unfiltered Friends List and various tumblr.s again! *throws confetti*

3. I have a new desktop picture (no spoilers). Because I wanted something happy and Glee and pretty. I was listening to the Glee cover of True Colours on repeat while I made it. ^_^ It makes me smile.

4. According to this flowchart, I'd be a Jedi Knight. Cool. ^_^ I always liked to dream I was a Jedi when I was younger. Along with dreaming of being a Queen of Narnia. And no, that is not a closet joke.

5. It seems I'm going to be 29 next week. Presumably this means I need to grow up at some point. I'm still living in denial, because the water's fine here.

Dear Australian Tax Office,

Tax Returns would be so much easier to fill out if you let me at it.

No, really.

( observe )

Can you tell I've started doing my tax today? At work, because I'm too lazy at home.

And don't even get me started on the bit that tells me I need to fill out the section if I ticked something earlier, but then has no part of it that actually applies to me! ò_ó

I did have some fun with it, though.

I scanned this bit, because it still gives me a thrill to read. It's only been two years since same-sex couples were considered couples for tax purposes. It used to say "person of the opposite sex" for partner, so at least some progress has been made.

( scan )

Of course, as soon as I scanned it I started adding categories in my guide booklet:

( altered scan )

I was giggling so much over that, that my boss threatened to make me reconcile our accounts if I was having so much fun with my tax. XD

But really, it's nothing unusual. I often get the urge to add stuff to official documents. Including patient correspondence:

( for example )

I don't actually write those kind of things in, of course, but my head is certainly an interesting place to be sometimes.

Regarding the Australian election: I have no idea what's going on, and I think a lot of people feel the same. For all I know, the next step could be Tony and Julia wrestling on the floor of the lower house, and whoever loses has to lick the blood off the carpet.

If Tony Abbott wins... *sigh* Three possibilities: 1) Move to New Zealand. 2) Secede. Make your bedroom its own nation. 3) Avoid thinking about it, watch porn, dye your hair purple, and eat copious amounts of chocolate.

Actually dying my hair purple and eating chocolate is always on my list of possible options, and in a progression from Plan A to Plan B, and onwards, it's usually around Plan W. Plan X can be summed up by the words: EXTERMINATE THEM ALL! Plan Y involves building a rocket and flying to Jupiter, and Plan Z is jumping into the Void. These are the kind of things I plot out while I'm on the bus home from work.

To distract you all from the above clusterfuck:

- “At seventeen I was engaged to a man I had never met.”. This is a beautiful story. One woman's true story of an arranged marriage into a culture she had little experience with. (Also, Part 2, and Part 3.)

- This is one of the most amazing pictures I've ever seen (contains artistic nudity). It's by Andreas Smetana.

And finally, note to self: Do not lean on your screws. It hurts.

Attention spiders in my room (yes, all four of you),

Please curl up and die. If this cannot be managed, please stop running away from me so that I may proceed with the squishing and killing on my own.*

Your assistance would be appreciated. (Your continued presence would not.)

Thank you.

- The reigning queen of the room.


*The term "running away" may include, but is not limited to:
- ambling casually behind the furniture where I cannot reach you
- jumping (especially onto me)
- disappearing into a crack in the wall
- otherwise hiding
- turning invisible
Please cease and desist all of the above activities immediately.
Transferring to another room may be acceptable.

We've had three or four different ideas about where to cut off the seventh film. Traditionally, the movies have ended with a death or a bereavement, some sort of passage or arrival. This time we think we will end with more a cliffhanger.

Dear David Yates,

If you do decide to end Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 on a cliffhanger I will reconsider seeing it at the cinema. I don't care that half my friends will be gushing about it before I see it; I Hate cliffhangers (note the "hate" with a capital H). I hate them on TV, I hate them in stories, I hate them in film. I don't feel like paying $20 in order to be left hanging. That's not my idea of a good time.

More likely, I'll just buy the DVD and then go see Part 2. I'm not so obsessed that I don't have better things to spend my money (and time) on.

Conditional love,

Regi.