Friday, May 18, 2012

 
Where in the world is Nick Stahl? I noticed a spike in traffic to this blog yesterday because people were Googling Nick Stahl. You may remember that I was kind of fascinated by him back in 2009 when I was watching Carnivale, and then got a hilarious update about his lookalike, Alexander Siddig.

Well, turns out his estranged wife has filed a missing persons report for him because she hasn't seen him since 9 May. I was very sad to read how life has taken a bad turn for Nick, because I think he's a talented actor. Obviously I am no superfan or I would have already known that he was married and had a kid, but it's sad to see that hasn't worked out.

His IMDB profile seems to indicate he's been working steadily, but not in especially good roles; apparently he was going to make a comeback in a TV pilot that ended up not getting picked up. Seems he has also gone AWOL before but never for this long.

Like ABC News, I did briefly wonder if there was such a thing as a Terminator curse, given that Edward Furlong and Kristanna Loken have kind of bombed since appearing in the franchise. But, sadly, Christian Bale's continued shouty, bearded, unpleasant work throws out this theory, and after Lena Headey's time as Sarah Connor in the Sarah Chronnor Conicles, she's now starring as the villainous Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones.

I hope Stahl is found safe and well.

EDIT, Monday 21 May: Good news: Nick Stahl has popped back on the grid and is in rehab! Although I don't really like the sound of his wife Rose. Blabbing on Twitter about loss of privacy, but happy to speak to the media; taking out a court order against Stahl earlier in the year, but saying now that she doesn't consider herself separated.

Also, Nick did not include her in the email he sent his friends reassuring them he's okay… but she read it because she had access to his email account! Poor Nick. I wish him luck.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

 
Hot water bottle placement. I grew up with electric blankets but I don't like them as an adult. I feel uneasy about the electric current running under my body and worried about overheating, catching on fire, and spending too much on electricity bills.

Hot water bottles are cheap, comforting and old-school. I like the way that a hot water bottle can be used strategically as a heat pack, especially to ease back pain and period pain as I fret that I use too much ibuprofen for that.

I have done up this diagram of where I like to place the hot water bottle as I lie in bed. It was actually quite difficult to find a full-length image of someone asleep on their side that did not involve pregnancy or a ridiculously shaped pillow.



I like to place the hot water bottle in position 5 first of all, to warm the end of the bed before I get in so my feet don't feel cold. After a minute or two of lying there with nice warm feet, I scoot the bottle up to position 2 or 3, my shoulders or lower back.

This is very pathetic to put in words, but I also like positions 2, 3 and 4 because they produce the same comforting effect as being spooned by another person while actually being alone.

Position 1 is usually where I have the hot water bottle as I fall asleep, and I will often wake up with it there, or if I have rolled onto my other side, it will be in position 3.


Wednesday, May 09, 2012

 
Battle of wits and arses. I am very strict about not allowing Graham outside at night. He, in turn, develops an urgent desire to go outside in the late afternoon. This is also his favourite time to sit in his stupid tree and refuse to come down.



Tonight I was full of triumph that I had tricked him into coming back inside. I had got a tin of Whiskas and the ridiculous plastic spoon I use to dig out the cat food, and stood at the back door tapping the side of the tin with the spoon and saying, "Graaaaham?" in a tempting voice.

Gratifyingly, he scrambled out of the tree immediately and sped back inside, where he stood, forlorn, beside his food bowl which was still half full of the cat food I had served him not half an hour earlier. I put the can back in the fridge and was poncing about the kitchen crowing, "I tricked a puff, and I liked it!" to the tune of Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl'.

Then Graham went to the back door and miaowed most piteously. When he saw I wasn't going to let him out, he promptly shat on the floor.

This clearly was a vengeance poo! He did not need to poo when he was in his stupid tree! Even as I cleaned it up I had to admit it was well played.


Thursday, May 03, 2012

 
Junk Mail Bargains, vol. 1. As regular readers of this blog would know, I love reading the junk mail. From time to time I like to tip off people I know about the interesting products on sale at major retailers, and today I thought, "Maybe I should do this in a more organised way."

But if you know me, you know that an irregular blog post on the subject is as about as organised as I am prepared to be.

Anyway – Mother's Day is coming up soon, which is great because it is a rich source of Freelance Work Clothes, or as other people might call them, 'sleepwear'. Here are some other interesting bargains this week:



A while ago I realised Garnier has a BB cream. This stands for "blemish balm" and is some next-level tinted moisturiser that also contains a primer and sunscreen. I associated BB creams with insane Korean makeup – my book club buddy Helen gave me a sample of a brand she uses and it made me look as if someone had run an airbrush over my nasty pink skin, which as you know is a great source of angst to me.

Anyway, if you would like to try this kind of moisturiser for a low-stakes price, Garnier's Miracle Skin Perfector is currently on special at Coles for $9 and at Kmart for slightly less, $8.50. Woolworths also has it on special with 30% off, but that only works out to $9.76 so Kmart wins.

Also at Coles (BUT IMPORTANTLY: NOT ALL COLESES) you can get two pairs of women's leggings for $8. That's cheaper than tights, and as Ned Stark liked to say, winter is coming. They come in full length, lace trim or 3/4 length, but importantly you can only get them at the deep-suburban barn-like stores. They are not available at the following stores that you may actually visit: Melbourne Central, Spencer Street, Fitzroy, Richmond, Port Melbourne, St Kilda. However they might be at Barkly Square, South Melbourne or Prahran.

Julian Fellowes' Titanic miniseries, just screened in the UK and US to mediocre reviews and nicknamed Drownton Abbey, will be available from next Monday at Kmart for $29.95. This may only interest me, as I am still in the grip of Titanic Re-Obsession 2012.

Women's freelance work pants (aka pyjama pants) are at Big W for $3, an even better price than $5, which is how much I paid for two pairs back in March. They probably only have them in boring colours such as grey and black now, but they are great pants and I wear them every day.

There are also women's "sleep sweaters" at Big W for $9.94, which would be a nice long-sleeved work top for winter, and men's or ladies' fleece-lined boots at $7.48, which I highly endorse as I bought some this time last year and wear them all the time. My pro tip: if they get a bit stinky you can put a tablespoon of baking soda in there, rub it in, leave for a while and then shake or even vacuum out. These are not actual sheepskin slippers, but Big Dubs also sells real leather ones for $25 – a saving of $9.96.

Big W has men's flannies for $7 but hold off, because they are actually cheaper at Ray's Outdoors, where they are $5.99.

Myer has a decent Revlon gift-with-purchase if you spend $40 – which is easy to do on a foundation or something. The 'Sweet Look' option is my favourite: you get a black eyeliner pencil, a four-colour eyeshadow palette (mid-brown, chocolate, beige and pink), a mascara, a lipstick in a berry-pink colour and a candy-pink nail polish, all in a beige zip-up makeup bag. With the 'Intense Look' option the bag, eyeshadow and nail polish are purple and there's a lip-liner and lip gloss instead of the lipstick and eyeliner.

There's also a nice range of teacups at Myer – with 25% off Maxwell and Williams their 'Kimono' teapot is now $29.95 and a cup, saucer and plate trio is $18.65. There's also an introductory offer on Royal Albert where the 'Country Roses' trio is $34.95 (it'll be $49.95 after the offer ends).

And there are some seriously jaunty retro-inspired Kenwood kitchen appliances that come in agreeably bright colours including yellow, orange, magenta, aqua and green, and have rounded deco lines.

At Dick Smith you can get a Belkin jogging armband for your iPod or iPhone (useful if you like to listen to music or are doing Couch to 5K) for $19.95, which includes a bonus set of sports hook earphones designed not to fall out.

A turntable and radio with a built-in speaker is half price at Dick Smith – $34. This probably won't satisfy audiophiles but is great for the casual vinyl listener. Probably cheaper than most records.

Also, if you are paranoid about security at your home and would like to deter burglars, at Dick Smith you can get a fake dome-mounted security camera for $19.95 (save $5!) It has a realistic look and a flashing red LED light.

At Autobarn, you can buy – and I wish I were joking – eyelashes for your car's headlights to make it look like a GIRL CAR. Allegedly they are "the latest craze in car fashion" and cost $19.99. "Also available: car eyeliner." Why do I feminism?

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