A Random Monii

So this is what happens when I come home after 5 weeks of university. I spend the first 4 days sleeping until past noon, buggering around on the internet and eating well. Doesn’t sound too bad, except for the fact that I do have work set that’s due for next term.

I’d like to take this opportunity to shamelessly plug the amazing that is Jonathan Coulton. The gamers might know him from the Portal ending song- “Still Alive”, but this guy is truly talented. His music is funny and original, and I love it. I even donated, believe it or not.  My favourites include ‘Codemonkey’,  ‘I Feel Fantastic’, ‘Skullcrusher Mountain’ and his faboulous cover of ‘Baby Got Back’. Please guys, most of his songs are available free to download from the site. Give him a listen, you won’t regret it.

…as the most hated South African company. The electricity supplier shot to the top within the last week as they re-introduced load-shedding to the masses, but with a twist.

“It’s a new look at load-shedding,” An Eskom spokesperson explained. “We used to only cut power occasionally during the winter when usage was lower, to conserve power for the busier summer months. Now we are cutting power during the middle of summer, when our customers are using it most often!”

Eskom has also gained more public outcry by posting a rough schedule of load-shedding times on their website, but not sticking to it. The daily power cuts have led to important facilities such as hospitals having to fall-back onto secondary generators, while residential users struggle on without any electricity. The confusion continues to mount as no official explanation has been given, but experts remind us that Eskom was not granted permission by the government to build any new power stations. As no new stations have been built in 20 years, it’s no surprise that it was all bound to come crashing around our ears sooner or later.

The sudden increase in load-shedding has pulled the rug out from under the formerly most hated company in South Africa- Telkom. The infamous telecommunications provider is reported to have dismissed Eskom as “an upstart who is not used to upsetting the masses”.

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Yes, I’m exaggerating. Not on the extent of the load-shedding, though. Maybe we should stop selling power to Zimbabwe, especially if all of Zim’s population is living in SA now?

Wow.

Tonight I’m going out for New Year’s, to a big swanky dinner dance. The family is coming with and I’m bringing B as my date.

So I’m hopping into my dress as the doorbell rings. I shimmy my legs in.

Ding Dong

I jerk the dress up. And tear the single stitch holding the front part of the dress together.

“Fuckshit.” I say, eloquently. My once lovely dress is now far too gappy at the chest area. I don’t want /that/ much attention paid to my assets, y’know.

In the end, we stitched it. But I don’t tend to swear out loud for minor reasons.

I hope everyone has a safe New Year’s.

So around these parts it’s traditional to put up your christmas decorations on the 10th. And it seems that this year my family has succeeded. We now have a snazzy tree with not-so-snazzy ornaments, plus a wreath and a nice selection of tinsel. Personally, I could lose all of that and just keep the pretty lights we’ve hung on the tree. I’d have them all year around in my room if I had my own set.

The new dog, Tigger, is settling in well, Misty enjoys playing with him and they both now sleep in their baskets (as opposed to Misty sleeping on our beds). We couldn’t decide on a name for most of his first day, and so his nametag reads ‘Tiger’, but we can just bluff over that mishap as a matter of pronunciation.

This month is going to be, and has already been, hectic for me because of my birthday and family and friends-of-family flying out. Not to mention the actual wintereenmas christmas and new year’s. Speaking of family, my dad arrived in Africa yesterday and I seen him for the first time today. He hasn’t been here in over 9 years (one week in 1998 and a vacation in 1997), but from the early 80’s until 1992 he lived here. From what I can see, he really misses the place. He said that stepping off the plane felt like coming home.

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Now playing: Queen - The Show Must Go On
via FoxyTunes

“The most wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things. Their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs. They’re bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is, I’m the only one. Oh, III’m the only one!”

“Oh, the wonderful thing about Tiggers is, Tiggers are wonderful chaps. They’re loaded with vim and vigor. They love to leap in your lap. They’re jumpy, bumpy, clumpy, thumpy, Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is … III’m the only one!”

- Tigger’s Song

Say hello to my new dog, Tigger. He’s a magical X breed, with semi-Jack Russell markings on a Maltese coat.

In other, more Stumbley news, check out this interesting blog entry by Scott Granneman on GranneBlog. Time travel… hmm.

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Now playing: Robbie Williams & Oasis - Wonderwall (Live)
via FoxyTunes

I hate the fact that a single facial expression from my younger sister can crush my own opinions on what I’m currently wearing. So much for looking good at school today.

Yup, I’ve got another new book. But this one is The One.

Yesterday I bought Fool’s Fate, book three in the Tawny Man Trilogy. Book Nine of Nine in the Elderlings Realm. The third book in the third trilogy. So, this is the one I’ve been waiting for. Not many books I’ve read ties over 40 years worth of story, nor spans over nine books. I’m about 165 pages in, and it’s fantastic. It’s the first fantasy series (excluding Harry Potter) that I’ve followed the whole way through. I know that the author, Robin Hobb, doesn’t approve of fanfiction, so I won’t be able to follow Fitz after the book’s conclusion. But that will be alright, for now. Hobb has created such a rich world, I’d be happy to go back and read the whole thing once I’m done.

That Half Life 2 review I promised you? Well, I did finish HL2. And Episodes One and Two. And Portal. And then my (amazingly kind) friend bought me Gmod. And I modded my Gmod. Yeah, I’m pretty much hooked to the entire thing. The Half Life story is pretty damn cool, it’s amusing that I never got into the whole thing before. So, my review is a little slow in coming, but I’ll still try and get there.

I’m at a lull in between exams right now. The only finals I have left are Computers Theory and English (rewrite). Neither are a challenge for me, but I’d like to do well in Theory so I’ll probably have to study. Thankfully, one of my friends made a copy of his study notes for me, which will help.

The US trip planning is going well, with luck we’ll book it next week. I can’t wait!

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Now playing: Seether - Fake It
via FoxyTunes

Y’know, I can’t decide whether I actually like Facebook. It’s better than Myspace and Bebo in my opinion, I just wish it was more catered to my own tastes. No, I can’t specifically decide what’s wrong with it. I do like the poking though. >_>

I’m busy working out the details of my US Trip next year, which is making me very excited and positive. I’m just not sure that my friends realise what they have gotten themselves into… they are meeting Monii at last. Muahaha….

Yeah, exams are making me a little crazy. How can you tell?

So she wakes up when it’s still dark, sometimes. Who would want to wake up before the sun touches them? It’s a bit sad, but I can live with that. And she feeds me, so I love her by default. But recently she’s been taking my food away after a while. I don’t know if she’s noticed, but that means I can’t wander over and munch at my food whenever I want to. And that’s another thing- none of Them are giving me their Myfood anymore. Y’know, the stuff that when I try to eat it they go “No-Misty-That’s-Myfood.” In return I’ve taken to eating their Mystuff instead, all of the colourful things lying in reach. This makes her sad, but it’s so fun to make Them chase me!

She and me are happy because we both like to sleep lots. Except she gets to sleep under the covers and I don’t. But I’m allowed to nuzzle her and I get my own special blanket and pillow to sleep on. We would sleep all day if we were allowed to, except for those days where she wakes up when it is still dark. Then she makes me go outside in the cold to sleep. But they made me my own house outside! It’s small, but I like it. I like bringing bugs into it to play with them. I sometimes put my blanket into my house as well. And if she wants me to go outside and she has a really really nice treat, I will run into my house and wait for her. She says it’s the only time I act well-trained.

If you have a she or a he, it’s really fun to wait for them to whistle for you, then do nothing. They get all frustrated and stuff. It’s fun.

The she in my life has two boxes. She loves one, but I don’t know about the other. One is a big square that she watches for hours, and loves it. Sometimes I see people and Mystuff on it. It has another box with little boxes that she presses with her fingers to make a clicky noise. She does this a lot. These boxes are together on her desk and she calls it “Online”.

The other box is the flashybox. It’s a much smaller box with flashy lights on it, which are fun to watch. Sometimes the light at the top turns off and then she gets mad. Sometimes she dances with the box to make the top light go on again. All of the words she calls that box are rude. I don’t know why she tries so hard to make the flashybox happy if it is mean to her. She should play more with me instead. I’m mostly always happy.

-Misty