not too short for a stormtrooper

Yesterday was bright and hot, and today has been absolutely stunning so far. The sky is clear and blue, and the sun is uncomfortable on my skin, and there's a forecast for a light shower next week but I think summer is here, or dipping its toe in, at least.

I was at the markets this morning, picking up some fruit and vegetables. I ate a delicious mango a little while ago, in the usual manner: that is, slicing across the seed, scoring the flesh and pulling it from the skin with my teeth. I got mango juice all down my arms and on my table (as is also usual), and it was fantastic.

I know it's getting close to winter for many people on my flist, but I don't care: I want to hear about people's favourite summer recipes, all light and cool and delicious.

I'm wearing a summer dress, dark blue with giant stars printed on it, and I've got little black pears dangling from my ears.

I'll make my own post, in a bit, of my favourite summer things (with pictures); but for now, I suppose I had better finish sewing this penguin.

There are other places I'd usually say this, other journals I'd use and other words I'd say, but on Monday, Steve Irwin died, and everyone was very sad. I learnt a lot about Steve Irwin this week - I was astonished at the out pouring of grief from people who aren't Australian, amazed to find out he was a Tourism Australia ambassador, amazed to find out he was considered a conservationist. And it was freaky, the way he died doing something he loved.

Just over five hours ago, Australian motor racer Peter Brock was killed coming out of a hairpin turn at a rally at Gidgegannup, a place I spent a chunk of time in as a child. He was a racing great, and he died whilst racing. And this is bigger to me, means more to me, than Steve Irwin's death. But aside from that, it's a little weird that two Australian icons died doing the things that they love, in the same week.

And I'm just posting this here because I haven't seen anyone say it yet, and yeah. I'm a big dag for liking motor sports, but who didn't like Peter Brock? I mean seriously.

Prompted by this post, wherein shadowserenity claims that there are very few Australian artists that she likes, and one of them is Delta Goodrem, I have composed a brief musicspam of Australian artists that I like. You will notice that Delta does not feature in here!

These songs come under the following headings: rock, pop, country, and drunk pianist. But they are also all Australian, which is why you get to hear and admire them now!


( all my friends are fuck ups, but they're fun to have around )

"Evermore is up for Best Australian Album of the year, but I'll tell you something, they've only been in the country all of three weeks! But you can still redeem yourselves guys, if you can answer this simple question. What is the world's richest source of vitamin B?"

OMG WHAT IS THE WORLD'S RICHEST SOURCE OF VITAMIN B HAHAHA I LOVE YOU AUSTRALIA!

i'd like to take a moment from my usual fannish ramblings to talk about the fact that my beloved footy team won the grand final. i just. WE WON. it has been seventy two years since our last premiership, and we won with a beautiful mark and a gap of four points. and i just.

i started crying when the siren rang.

and then i called my brother in law, who answered his phone, but refused to talk to me. so i talked into the silence of him fuming because his team lost, and i need to transcribe myself because i am so happy.

pen: hi. [i pause] are you not talking to me? [i pause again] well, i wasn't sure you were going to answer when i called, so hi. did you see that last mark? did you see it? WE WON. FOUR POINTS. AND I AM NEVER GOING TO LET YOU FORGET IT. have fun at work, i'll see you next week.

context: i live in perth, and everyone in this town supports the team WE JUST BEAT (the eagles). i've spent the last week with people actually dismissing me, going, "oh, she's a swans supporter" in that knowing tone. and all the radio stations were all, "here's a song to cheer up all the swans supporters" and then playing the eagle's anthem, and thinking they were so fucking funny. and you know what? we won. and i was just so happy that we'd made it to a grand final that i didn't care if we won or lost, until i spent a week surrounded by people going, "oh, you support sydney?" in this disdainful manner.

for those of you who don't know AFL, you can read about it from the perspective of an american exchange student here, an excellent photoblog of this year's easter sunday game here, and my team's website is here.



(i'm so happy about this, one icon wasn't enough. i needed to make two)