"What-Will-I-Do?" Wednesday

I’ve agonised about what Wednesday should be. I was going to make it “Whingy Wednesday”, but I reconsidered, because bitching and complaining on the internet is never productive (hear that, vaguebooking Facebook friends????).

Saturday was originally going to be “Something New” Saturday – but it’s easy to find things that start with “S” – less so for “W”.

So, Wednesdays become my day to find new things and places to go to and do. Knowing me, it will probably involve hunting down strange new cuisines to try (there’s a Scandinavian bakery I’ve been dying to visit) and strange sports to try (underwater hockey? Yes please!).

But this month, because I’ve been a teensy bit lazy (also, working full time really kills my desire to do… well, anything), Wednesday is a list of books that I’ve read/am still reading these holidays.

1.       Michael Kirby Biography – A.J Brown.

Credit: http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/image/0008/283076/kirby-biography-cover.jpg

• I’m still not finished this one – but it’s absolutely fascinating to read. One thing that particularly hit me about this book are how many future powerbrokers Kirby was rubbing shoulders with while he was at uni. It’s also made me a bit more relaxed about taking an extra 6 months to finish my degree. Kirby took *years* to graduate, and was still active in the student union, even when he wasn’t a student anymore. A great read for all law nerds, and Kirby fangirls.

2.       Sing You Home – Jodi Picoult.

Credit: http://www.jodipicoult.com.au/images/singyouhome_cvr.jpg

•    Shuddup. I know you can’t get a much bigger contrast between number 1 and 2, but I do quite enjoy Jodi Picoult books. They’re like… chicken nuggets of reading. This one deals with the conundrum of a lesbian couple wanting to use frozen eggs/sperm obtained while ½ of the lesbians was in a  heterosexual relationship. Nothing too high brow or really, that “challenging” from my perspective, but I guess if I was a religious person I could have found it difficult. Also, the ending was a total cop out. Even by Picoult standards. 

3.       One Day - David Nicholls     

Image Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:One_day_-_david_nicholls.jpg

• My uni friends have a book club and despite my best intentions, I’ve never been able to make it along, but I do try to read the books. One Day was one of them. I had fairly high expectations because the law girls had been raving over it, a couple even saying that they were on the brink of tears on the bus while reading the last few chapters.
•      I have to say, until I got to the last few pages, I was pretty “smeh” about this book. The characters are very “real” (and “real” in the sense that they are both pretty flawed characters and have a propensity to really get on your nerves) and while the concept is excellent (the relationship of two people over 25years) I was a bit let down by the execution. But the last few pages  - whoah.
•  I won’t tell you what it was, even though I don’t think it would really give away anything, but it kinda… redeemed the entire book. There were these two kinda annoying characters who never quite fulfilled their dreams, but this one, seemingly tiny almost-thing when they first met had completely changed the course of their lives over the next quarter of a decade.
•  I wouldn’t say that I “liked” the book, but I think it’s fair to say that it is excellent none the less.

4.       A Song of Fire and Ice - George R.R. Martin

Credit: http://images.wikia.com/gameofthrones/images/8/83/ASoIaFFiveBooks.JPG

•    Disclaimer: I’m not a fantasy reader, but I do love a good bandwagon.  So when I heard from multiple sources that this series was “fantasy for people who don’t like/read fantasy” I decided to have a crack at it.
•        I would say I’m enjoying the series at about a 7/10. Like I said, I don’t read fantasy, so it’s a bit of a chore to have to learn all these people’s families and genealogies and the maps of the various lands and who’s alliances are with whom etc etc, but I’m slowly getting a grip of it all, and the narratives are very detailed and engaging.
•       I think my biggest complaint at the moment is that despite having read the first two books in the series, and have started on Bk3, Pt1, I’m not even half way through, despite having been reading for *ages*. And I have to finish reading the series before uni goes back, or I won’t read them until holidays and because of the detailed nature of the books, I would have to re-read them all before I could move onwards.
•      I also saw a clip of the HBO TV series which threw me. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but creepy English accents was not it.

So that’s what I’ve been reading. I promise next Wednesday post will involve going somewhere/doing something. 


Also, January is completed! I know it only says 6 posts, but the 1st of Jan was a Sunday but it hasn't appeared here for some reason, so I'm counting it. On another note, this is my dog being adorable. 

Thrifty Thursday

I don’t know if Op-Shopping has always been a trendy thing to do. Maybe all generations go through a “hipster” phase where Op-Shopping moves from the domain of the pitied urchins to the upmarket, oversized-glasses-wearing, skinny-jeaned, perfectly-coiffed, latte-sipping “in” crowd. In any case, my generation has definitely entered that phase. I resisted for as long as I could (I look ridiculous in glasses, my hair is impossible and I don’t drink coffee), but when your house is located on a road with at least 6 Op-Shops (one of which has a BEAR COSTUME IN THE WINDOW!), sometimes, you just have to yield.

I wouldn’t say I’m an Op-Shop convert. For starters, I think that you have to be skeletally thin to really benefit from thrifting. I have a… shall we say… sturdy figure, with hips and boobs and thighs and all those other things that make it difficult for clothes to fit well – particularly clothes from different eras. But that’s not to say I haven’t made some fantastic finds.

My first is an academic gown. I think it’s pretty legit. It’s only made from cotton, but the stitching is fantastic (according to my aunt, who probably knows about these things) and it seems pretty realistic. I bought it for a themed party, but it’s been pretty handy (I’ve also used it for a Harry Potter party), and I think it’ll probably be useful again.

Image Credit: http://booknerd101.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/robe.jpg. My gown isn't this cool. But I wish it was. 

The other find… well, I’m not so sure about it. It’s this prom/cocktail ish dress. I bought it mostly because it fit like a glove, which after a day of op-shopping and feeling like a lumpy potato was such a shock, I bought it almost out of shock. But I also adore flared skirts and off the shoulder necklines. I actively hate the velvet rose-things on the band though – I’ll have to see about hacking those off. I have no idea when or where I’ll wear it, but I guess that’s just another challenge for the year ahead. 

Munchie Monday

I quite enjoy cooking. The problem is that I (1) really hate cleaning and (2) rarely get home before 6pm on weekdays, which makes making elaborate dishes quite difficult. In the immortal words of Dylan Moran, I get some bread and will dip it in anything runnier than bread rather than try to cook.

I also prefer baking to cooking, so if I do have a spare hour or two, I’m more likely to whip up a cake than something substantial.

Munchie Monday is my motivation to, at least once a month, cook something new, exciting and (hopefully) delicious. That isn’t baked. And for my first Munchie Monday I decided to try my hand at Scrambled Eggs.

I’ve actually never eaten scrambled eggs, let alone made them. I was (and to an extent, still am) a fussy eater as a child and one hangover effect of this is that I can’t really remember which foods I actually don’t like, and which foods I haven’t tried, but 8yo Lucy was adamant she hated.

I have recently quite enjoyed making omelettes – and I would say I’m fairly good at making them.  However, one fateful day, I realised that while I had eggs, I didn’t have anything worthy of filling a breakfast omelette. It was a desperate moment. But I am nothing if not an innovator/Google addict, so I turned to the internet to solve by breakfast dilemma. And there it was. Scrambled Eggs. And even better, Gourmet Scrambled Eggs (because I'm fancy). I was sold.

The recipe is: 

·         4 eggs

·         2tbsp mayonnaise (another thing that I’ve only recently discovered that 8yo Lucy was wrong about)

·         2tbsp parmesan

·         Chives.

(Source: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Gourmet-Scrambled-Eggs-for-2)

There was a slight problem with this recipe. It doesn’t really tell you how to make scrambled eggs. The method went something along the lines of “Mix it all together, but it in a saucepan”, but, as a seasoned Masterchef viewer, I knew that there must be more to scrambled eggs, so I turned to the other bastion of knowledge in the modern day – Youtube.  I stumbled upon a great Gordon Ramsey video (here) who seemed to buck all the “conventional” egg scrambling videos.  But by this point, I’d already contaminated the eggs with the mayo/cheese/chives, so I had to charge on. Also, I didn’t have a skillet.

So I used a high-ish heat, and gently pushed it around constantly, took the eggs on and off the heat and piled them up, etc etc.

And this is what my product looked like (ps. Please excuse the awful, awful crockery! I think it was my parent’s wedding gift that they’ve only just rediscovered and felt obligated to use).  

Also, they looked better in real life– the lighting wasn’t great and I swear they weren’t that oily!

It was absolutely delicious. To be fair though, it tasted mostly of parmesan and chives, but it seemed pretty fluffy. Not a bad first attempt. 

Boozy Tuesd'y

I like cocktails. I was given a cocktail shaker for my birthday a couple of years ago, but I’ve been a bit too intimidated to use it (I’m pretty scared that the top will fall off).  So I’ve decided to improve my “mixology skills” through forced practice. But I’ll do that next month, because I have to sing about my  love for Rekoderlig cider.

Image credit: http://www.adnews.com.au/campaign/beautifully-swedish

I stumbled across Rekoderlig by accident on a family ski holiday. We were buying some dinner, and I was perusing the selection of alcoholic beverages when my eyes fell on a tall, and stout bottle. Winter Berry Cider.

I’ve only tried cider once, and I wasn’t overly impressed by it. I am the first to say I have a massive sweet tooth, so even cider seemed too bitter for me. But by some fluke, we decided to try it. And the heavens parted and the angels sang. Deliciousness, thy name is Rekoderlig.

The most exciting part of this for me is that if I hold the bottle a particular way, it almost looks like I’m drinking beer. Hooray for not being “that girl” who can’t drink anything but spirits anymore!!!

Solo Saturday

I know, I know.

Worst Blog hostess ever.

I planned to space these posts out over the month, but then I got stuck on things that alliterate with “Tuesday”, and then I got all indecisive about Wednesday and then I went to science camp for a week and a half, and then I kinda forgot about it, and then I felt guilty that I’d forgotten about it, and then I decided to bite the bullet and pump out 6 blog entries before the end of the month, and then I went to the coast, which pushed back the publishing date even further. Such a crisis.

But never fear, a month’s worth of blogging is coming your way.

So,  Solo Saturday. 

Image Credit:  http://ebookstore.sony.com/ebook/robert-paul-smith/how-to-do-nothing-with-nobody-all-alone-by-yourself/_/R-400000000000000194197

Last year, my cousin’s friend came over from Germany. She. Was. Awesome. One thing that particularly impressed me was what my parents described as her “get up and go”. She wasn’t afraid to travel by herself. If she couldn’t find someone to go somewhere with her, stuff it, she went by herself. It got me thinking, with going on exchange this year and lots of opportunities to go places, I need to get better at riding solo, so to speak. So I’ve decided to practise.

I started small. I decided to go to the movies. All by myself.  

It sounds so simple, yet I was completely unprepared for how difficult it would be to grow a pair, buck societal norms and go see a movie without a few buffer people. Which is completely ridiculous because going to the movies is one of the least social activities we can do. The “social” side of going to the movies is the 15mins of conversation either side, the actual movie part – 1.5+hrs of silence. But I digress.

I was sitting at home for about an hour debating whether I would even go (Well, I was always going to go, but maybe on a Sunday morning, when going to the movies seems less sad than on a Saturday night). I finally forced myself out the door and walked across to the cinema.  I was pretty proud of myself because I didn’t take the coward’s way out  and keep my eyes trained on my phone, like I was meeting someone. Nope. I just walked eyes straight ahead. But all the while, I was trying to figure out exactly what I’d say if someone was to ask me what I was doing. Whether I’d lie and say that I was meeting friends, or be honest.

I seriously was nervous before buying a ticket. What was I so afraid of? That some 16yo checkout chick was going to judge me? I even got off lightly. I arrived at 7:30 for a movie that started at 7:20, so it probably looked like I was meant to meet friends pre-movie, but ran late. But still, I wasn’t really prepared for how lame I’d feel asking for one ticket “somewhere in the middle please”.

But once I got in the cinema, being alone didn’t matter at all. And even afterwards, I walked straight out and went straight to my car. I did miss being able to tell someone how excellent the movie was straight afterwards, but hey, that’s what I’ve got a blog for. So, you should see A Few Best Men. It was pretty hilarious. Even alone. 

Film Friday

Hello again,

Film Friday is designed to actually compel me to go and see movies at the cinema. I very rarely, if ever actually, go to the movies. I blame my parents.

As kids, we hardly ever went to the movies ("Why pay $13pp to go to the movies now, when you can hire it out on DVD for $2 later?"), and when we did, it was never the "experience" that other kids talked about. There was no popcorn, slushies, Jaffas, chocolates. "You're here to watch, not to eat" was an oft repeated mantra for my parents. Of course, I went to the movies more often during high school when attending the movies was the social thing to do on weekends and my parents weren't there to stop me from wasting money on overpriced wares from the Candy Bar.

However once high school ended and the parental pockets seemed to run dry, spending $15 to go the movies became far less appealing. Their logic, which seemed so unfair to me as a child, became far more reasonable. It also became such a hassle to organise people to go with, a time that everyone's free to go to, and a cinema that is reasonable convenient for all parties. Also, I'm massively stingy.

What I've done recently is making a note of movies that I want to see, and then hiring them out at my convenience. But doing this means that I never go to the movies anymore, and particularly in the age of 3D movies, I think I am increasingly missing out on the full spectacle of movies and don't really "get" them. For example, I never saw Avatar in 3D, which I think was a massive mistake, because without presumably incredible 3D effects, all that's left is a cliched plot with characters who are all thoroughly detestable. Everyone had been raving about Avatar for months, but when I saw it, I was comprehensively disappointed.

Which gets me back to film Friday. There are actually a heap of movies I want to see at the moment. The Iron Lady, War Horse, Tower Heist, Tin Tin and Happy Feet 2 have all made it onto my "to watch" list.

However as Friday is here, and I had every intention of going to see The Iron Lady (by myself, because I'm all independent woman like that) but the movie I've actually been thinking about all week is Alfred Hitchcock's  "Psycho".

I watched Psycho on New Years Eve (because I'm pretty cool like that) and it has stuck with me for the entire week. I suppose it's because it is recognised as such an iconic film, that I was really curious to see what all the fuss was about.

Naturally, Psycho has to be understood within the time that it was released. And clearly, cinema-goers of the 1960s were a much more delicate breed than the audiences of today. The story line, by today's standards, was so simple (but with the iconic twist) and the "horror" was practically non-existent.

What sets Psycho apart is suspense. From start to finish, Bernard Hermann's score sets your hair on end and teeth on edge in a way that just doesn't seem to happen in today's films.

 I think it's because film makers had to work harder to build atmosphere and fear in the early days. Before there was CGI to make the impossible, possible, and before "stunt technology" became so realistic, it was actually better for directors to leave the worst of the "gore" to the human imagination. I can't help but think that maybe horror movie enthusiasts in the 60s might be a little disappointed by the modern children of the genre (after, of course, they recovered from the shock). After all, even CGI is limited in how much gore it can convey.

Sometimes, when watching a horror-ish movie (something, which I do not do very often), I actually forget to be scared or repulsed by the action on screen simply because there is something entrancing about actually seeing the severing of limbs or burning skin. You wonder how things are done, rather than reflecting on the horror that is intended. In Psycho, there is  none of that. All the gore is created in the mind (and perhaps I have an overactive imagination) and I think it's more horrible for that.

So that's what I've been thinking about this week.

I promise next Film Friday I'll pull my finger out and have a proper movie to reflect on. I'm thinking about "We Need to Talk About Kevin", if I can find somewhere what will show it. I read the book mid-way through 2010 and I still think about it fairly often. All the reviews say that it's a spectacular adaptation.

So until next time,

Lucy out.

Starter Sunday

Hello non-existent readers!

Welcome back! After months of pondering forgetting that this was here I am back with an idea for my blog.

Between uni, work, my tendency to overcommit to extracurricular activities and my seemingly endless capacity to sleep it becomes far too easy for me to justify not doing new and interesting things, or even old and boring things that I enjoy. There is always something "productive" that I can be doing, or, more pathetically, more sleep that I "need" to catch up on which makes it easy on a lazy Sunday to stay home and work than to get out and do fun stuff.

Another casualty of uni is my desire to read and write recreationally. I certainly do not harbour any desire to be a writer (well, perhaps a political/science journalist), but 4 years of law and being told to write to strict word limits and counting down the pages left of this week's readings (no seriously, once I put a small piece of paper in each page of a 40 page long reading just so I could feel like I was making progress) I very rarely pick up novels to read in my spare time, and this is the first piece of non-required writing I have done for an embarrassing long period. The breaking point for me was when I tried to read "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens and I gave up in disgust after about 20 pages because the writing "wasn't concise enough".

So welcome to The Scattergun Approach!

My plan is that I will label each day of the week with a theme (ie. Film Friday, Munchie Monday etc) and then have seven posts a month - one for each day of the month. I'm not going to really force myself into fixed categories, pretty much so long as I can make it alliterate with the day of the week I'm going to run with it. Hopefully, I will write about food and books and movies and cool stuff to do (and having read that sentence, I have to add another "and") and not be a pretentious tool while doing it.

And because we all know how good at getting out of stuff lawyers are, I'm going to make this blog an obligation - by New Years Resolutioning it (because those things are never broken).

Welcome to 2012, and welcome to the Scattergun Approach.

-L