2011 - A Review

Fireworks over Sydney Harbour [via]

For some reason I always am surprised when it comes to the end of the year. It seems as though the year went by so fast, and yet it takes as long as it always does! In the past New Years Eve (NYE) has been a big deal, and unfortunately it is often a let down when it doesn't live up to the hype. This year our celebration will be a fairly quiet one (hanging out at my sister's), but should still be quite fun. 

Usually on NYE just before the countdown to midnight I quickly take stock of the past year, without much proper time to reflect. So I thought I would put a bit more effort in this time, and I'm glad I did because I remembered some cool things. 

For me, 2011 was a year of NEW...

Merry Christmas!

Just a short note to say that I hope you and your family have a joyful Christmas! 

Luke 2:10-12: But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid! Listen, a Savior has been born to you today who is Christ the Lord. Here is your sign: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” [pic from here]

'Tis the Season for Cooking Mishaps

...well by me, anyway. I guess I shouldn't be overly surprised considering my burnt icecream and chocolate 'dog poo frisbees' of the past, but I thought maybe this time would be better. 

So this is what I'm attempting to make, stained-glass star cookies for Christmas presents for friends:

Excuse photo quality, it's a photo of the cooking magazine I'm using.

I was excited to get started because this is the first time I've needed to use my mixing machine thing (technical term). So I'm not entirely sure why this happened...

oops.

See that wonky bit of metal on the left? Yeh, that wasn't like that when I started. The machine has two holes for two beaters, so I put both in, and they clashed. One emerged the victor (clearly not the one pictured). Was I not supposed to use both? Is one a spare? I really have no idea. 

So anyway I started just using the machine with the non-broken one. Then I realised the metal bowl was getting scratched. See that plastic little cover thing on the top of the pictured beater (which I assume is used to protect things from being scratched)? Well the other one doesn't seem to have one... ANYMORE (? or I'm hoping it never did but I can't remember). So I had to search through all the cookie dough looking for a weird bit of plastic. I haven't found anything. 

Thank God this batch is the test bach. I'm going ahead with cooking them (just waiting for the dough to refrigerate for a bit) just to see how they turn out. Don't worry friends, you aren't going to be getting these ones with the potential bit of plastic.

Well stay tuned for an update, I'll let you know how the cookies turn out!  

**Updated after the jump**

Advice #2

In a previous post, I mentioned that I am now willing to give unprofessional, potentially unhelpful advice. As promised (quite some time ago actually but let's pretend I didn't take so long) I have finally come up with some answers to some of your questions. You'll be happy to know these questions are not ones I made up myself this time (though don't rule that out for the future)!

Question #1: Dear Lozzz123, You offered advice. I want advice. I am not near as cool as you and though I know I never will be, I was hoping you might inform me as to how I might earn cool points with you and everyone else in the universe, including the plants and the aliens. Please and thank you, Truly yours, With Utmost Sincerity, Uncool Ursula.

Dear Uncool Ursula: Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you on your politeness and flattery. It's always a fine start to getting in my 'good books'. Secondly, after consulting with both the plants and the aliens (once I took off my foil hat, of course) we came up with some simple tips to be more awesome and earn those coveted cool points. These tips are... 

Hold on a sec. Why should I give these tips away for free when this is clearly a lucrative opportunity? Actually, you can get some of these tips following a down payment of $149.95, and you then have the option of signing up for my extra-special coolness classes for the additional fee of $678.84 (per class). Contact me and I'll give you my bank details for a direct-debit transfer.  

Question #2: Ixy asked (without the Dear Lozzz123 but I'll let it go this time hehe...): Why is the sky only blue on weekdays when I'm inside an office building? Where oh where has my metabolism gone? How many eggs does it take to make a decent omelette (thought I'd give you an easy one there)? 

Dear Ixy, I searched the internets for an answer to the blue sky question, and I believe this answer was the best: 

As for your second question on your missing metabolism, I think I actually saw it go past me at the shops on Sunday. It tried to hide with a fake moustache, but I'm not that easily fooled. With regards to the omelette, I use 3-4 eggs for a 2-serving one (true story). 

Question #3: Dear Lozzz123, I'm stuck in a comment factory. Please give me advice about how to escape. Thanks, Oompa Commenter.

Dear Oompa Commenter: Left, right at the second fountain, hide and wait 3 minutes for the guard to pass, then left, left, straight for 30 metres, right at the roundabout, go over the wooden bridge, knock not once, not twice, but thrice at the green door (woe to the person who knocks at the blue one). Once through it's two rights, and a left. You're welcome. 

I think you'll agree that we are all greatly enriched from all that advice. Feel free to ask for more advice in the comments, or go here and fill out the comment form if you'd like to retain your anonymity.

Challenge Accepted!

So for a while I've been wondering which thing to next cross off my 30 before 30 list, and then went and did something that I'd completely forgotten was on the list anyway!

It all started on Saturday, when Husband had the day off work for once. We went out for lunch, and on the way back to the car I spotted a tattoo shop that had a sign saying "we do piercings". I mentioned to husband that I still meant to get my lip pierced one day, to which he laughed and said something along the lines of "Sorry but I don't think you're ever going to be able bring yourself to do that"... challenge accepted!

#12 complete! Sorry for crappy quality iPhone pic!

Thankfully, it was nowhere near as painful as I thought it might be. It's still a tiny bit swollen, and eating, drinking and brushing my teeth are still a bit of an issue, but overall I really like it! I think the owner of the tattoo place thought I was a bit precious though asking if the piercing would permanently mark my face - especially since he had a spider web tattoo covering half of his!

In other 30 before 30 news, I'm a bit closer to also completing #7 - get my drivers licence. I've always argued that I don't want to learn to drive on husband's car as I'd feel terrible if I wrecked it, especially since he needs it for work. Although potentially a lame reason, yesterday I got my own car - hooray! 

Husband named it Kirby...

...Like this little guy! [via]

It was a very busy weekend!

Something about work.

Well in what is basically completely copying from Little Missy Me who answered the following questions that came from here, I too have decided to jump on the bandwagon and talk about work stuff.

1. What is the worst job you have ever had?

I would have to say it's a tie, between the job I had at a bakery (which I've actually already mentioned here), and a clothes store. While at the clothes store I really liked most of the staff I worked with, I am really not cut out for retail. I kind of hate people (sorry people) so although I was supposed to approach each person who entered the store to greet them in a bubbly manner and make them spend all their money, I much preferred to go in the opposite direction and avoid them entirely, and just fold shirts and stuff. Even worse was when I had to work at the outlet version of the store which was super messy and the people were so cheap (would try to get you to give them a discount on a $5 item because it was the last one and not in their size - so what!?) and rude. Seriously, people wouldn't even say words to get my attention, they'd just click (one person even kind of hissed at me)! I was extremely satisfied the day I got to quit. Ok gripe over haha. 

2. Have you ever been fired?

Yes. Though I like to think that none of those situations were actually my fault, but actually due to this guy who I think was a job curse, or a harbinger of firings, if you will.  

3. What would your dream job be?

Well I think it would be a psychology academic (which I'm currently on track to be if I ever finish my PhD!), but also to be able to be a clinical psychologist and see clients too (which does require more uni, but I'm ok with that!). However, after I went to the zoo on the weekend, I also would be pretty happy working with gorillas. They are awesome, and it's a good excuse to include another gorilla picture!  

More of my zoo pictures here and also on my facebook page.

4. What did you want to be when you "grew up"?

I was a pretty ambitious kid. I was under the impression that doctors and lawyers were the most prestigious and smart-people professions, so I was happy to be either of those. However, psychology started to stand out to me as a teenager (which I spoke about a bit here) as the profession I really wanted to be involved in when I grew up. Something about it just clicked when I was looking into it, that made me think 'this is what I'm meant to do'. Also I do realise psychology is kind of a 'helping people' profession, and I've just stated earlier that I hate people - this is obviously a bit contradictory! So to clarify, I think I'll say I hate people out in public, who often seem to be selfish, loud and annoying (and clip their nails on public transport. Seriously this happened on the train on Sunday on the way to the zoo). However the workings of people's brains, and how things can go wrong (and how to fix it) really really fascinates me.

5. How old were you when you got your first job?

I think 16 or 17? It was towards the end of high school. It was at a little cafe/deli and I didn't mind it, except for the cleaning. However, this was the start of the job curse and I eventually got fired because they ran out of money to pay me (though now I think of it, perhaps that was just their nice way of getting rid of me because they thought I was crappy?). 

Well on the topic of work, maybe I should now go do some, hey!