Helen – Page 100 – helenthura.com

September 8, 2006

Go Blood Go

Tonight is the last night of The Chaser’s War on Everything. 🙁 The Chaser is the best show I have watched on TV for a while now. Those guys have me cracking up from the get-go to the very end of the weekly 26 minute episodes and tonight is the last night 🙁 and the best thing is re-watching the clips either via the ABC or on youtube, it is just total gold.

That doesn’t explain the post title though does it?
This afternoon I picked Mum up from her school and we headed to the Blood Bank to donate 🙂 Since my blood likes to be a total drama queen when it comes to donating I was not that hopeful that I would be able to donate the 470ml, especially as we had a slow start with my veins playing hide and go seek and then my blood only wanting to come out at a snailâ€™s pace.

In an effort to get my blood pumping I started whispering ever so quietly to my arm “Go Blood Go” and after much whispering the buzzer went that said my time was up and I thought what a bummer I didnâ€™t get the full amount but as the nurse came over to disconnect me she told me that I had in fact reached 470ml just as the buzzer went.
It worked!!! All that quiet whispering worked!! And to make it even better I received a lapel pin since it was my fifth donation!

I went to the local fruit store today to get some goodies to make goodies for my birthday picnic on Sunday, one of the things that happened to catch my eye when I was there was Rose Petal Jam from Syria! I plan on having some on my toast in the morning 🙂

September 5, 2006

First Exam

I had my first exam for the semester today and I already know I won’t be getting higher than 19.5/20 🙁

The exam was for a subject on Japan and the International Economy and in the multiple choice section I mixed the Nenko system (pay and promotion based on seniority) up with ShuntÅ? (annual pay negotiations). Grrr I thought I should have a quick check before the exam but I decided I knew the rest so I would be fine.

Now I just need to get kicking on an essay I have due next week on that oh so lovely and oh so contentious terrorism, or as I write it in my notes Tism or even just plain old capital T which represents the various forms of the word depending on the context.

That is my life. Japan’s Economy, Comparative Politics of South East Asia (SEA), Politics of International Law and Terrorism. Oh isn’t it all so lovely.

August 29, 2006

Burda 8517

I made a new top yesterday 🙂 Well I started it on Sunday and finished it on Monday evening. The pattern is Burda 8517 made with some mighty fine Liberty Tana Lawn in a print called Paul that I picked up the fabric in the remnants section at Gardams for a sure fire price of $43.50 (original price for 1.1m was $55). Of course the big question was then what pattern to use and after flipping though all the pattern books they had there we decided on the Burda pattern.

Since this was no cheap fabric we played it safe and made a muslin first and decided to lengthen the sleeves by about 1″ and to skip the elastic casing below the bust. The end result is a top that I am super happy with, feels comfy and looks great. 🙂

August 24, 2006August 24, 2006

Go Wide!

After about 8 or 9mths of umming and ahhing I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Sigma 12-24mm. In the end I picked it over the other ultra-wide angle zoom lenses because it is designed for full frame cameras whereas all the other ultra-wides are designed for cropped sensor DSLRs. This means that the 12-24 also works on my film camera as well the three series of DSLRs that Canon has (1x, 1.3x, 1.6x).

After I had a little play with the lens on 350d, I put it on the Eos 300(the film SLR I inherited from Karl) oh my I loved it even more. It really makes me want a full frame DSLR, 12mm is pure ultra wide goodness! When I get the film developed I will have to scan them in as the perspective is insane!

Of course one of the best things about having an ultra-wide is it just “enhances” the funny faces that Pabbi makes even more 😀

August 22, 2006

One step at a time …

… I proceed to take over the world under the tutelage of my Grandfather and today marked one more step towards that goal.

I’m famous. Well not quite. Well really not at all. I can still think I am pretty cool though and so can you, well if you are my family I guess because that is just a family rule.

What am I going on about and why is that photo displayed above? A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the Picture Australia people at the National Library of Australia asking me if they were able to use the image above in a press release for Australia’s Maritime World regarding the addition of new images to Picture Australia as well as the collaboration between Picture Australia and Flickr. Out of all the photos in the database, they picked one of mine 🙂 I can’t tell you how big of a smile that put on my face 🙂

August 20, 2006

Fireworks at the Ekka

Helen + Fireworks = One very happy Helen.

Really enough said. Fireworks have put a grin on my face and a twinkle in my eye for as long as I can remember and I can assure that is a very long time because I can remember things that happened years before my birth 20 years and 3 weeks ago 😉 … well not quite.

I remember going to the Ekka when we were younger and sitting on Machinery Hill watching the entertainment after a long day of fun at the Ekka and the hush that came about when the fireworks started. I remember racing out to our back balcony on New Years Eve catching glimpses of the fireworks over the tree line. I remember going to RiverFire in year 9 with Mum, Karl and Grandmum and having a blast watching the fireworks and then ripping a ligament in my ankle (playing silly buggers with Karl) which still gives me trouble today. I remember spending New Years Eve in Germany ’02/’03 and watching fireworks going off meters in front of me and then finding rocket sticks in the backyard in the morning and thinking to myself, gee imagine if you were a dog in the back yard and got hit by one of these? I remember leaving a NYE party early this year with Mum to drive back into Hobart to take photos of the Fireworks. When it comes to Fireworks I will go just about anywhere.

I love Fireworks.

Just as we did last year, Mum and I made the trip into the Kings Parking across the road from the Ekka to enjoy the show and what a show it was. A good variety of fireworks and a clear night with just the right amount of wind to carry away the smoke.