The Power of Picasa2

Before





After


Sometimes I amaze myself, but Picasa2 has knocked me out. I am off to doctor just about every picture I have ever taken.

I did NOT put that ridiculous header above, but there doesn't appear to be a way to alter it. The above pictures are some of my pictures from Asia. I do have pictures of other places but I haven't been able to locate the wire to load up pictures from the camera. Typical. Browsing through the my spaces and the bebos of complete strangers has its benefits as I managed to get a link to the site that makes my pictures do the collage effect. Whoo hoo!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

My preferred drink of celebration is champagne. So please do put some on ice as the Candadian High Commission have granted me a working visa.

Canada here I come.

So Sudan Red (yup, the cancer causing dye) has been found in some Asian chili powders. Food for thought for those of those that gorged on denjon jigae. And if ingesting Sudan Red isn't enough for South Koreans to handle, they are now being faced with an increasing suicide rate. It is being blamed on the widening divide between rich and poor. Correct me if I am wrong, but surely it is all to do with their emotionally opressive, indivdualism hating, forced family orientated society. Bah.

On the bus home I came up with a make cash slow scheme. Think about this, people from the age of 14-35 listen to their ipods frequently at alarmingly loud volumes. Therefore, by the time they are 65 (ish), they will have hideous aural abilities and will be in dire need of hearing aids. Anyone who owns or invests in hearing aid companies will be sitting on gold mines and wiping their bottoms with $100 bills. Of course it will only take a mere 30 years to accumulate even one bill to wipe your backside with.

You know when a cartoon character stubs their toe, it turns scarlet red, starts to pulse like a beating heart and turns into the size of a beach ball? I am currently sporting an imjury eeriely similar to that. I am the Foghorn Leghorn of the human world. I stubbed my third toe against the lap top that was lying on the floor on Friday night. It hurt like all hell. I had to do my best not to cry. It is now a palette of colours...none that blend all that well. Lots of black, with blues and reds, and a hint of yellow.

I am going for sympathy gold on this one.

On Friday evening I decided to treat myself to a nice bottle of red wine. Seeing as I am a member of the rat race, I tend not to question the price, more the quality of the wine and grape. However, I was brought kicking and screaming back to my church mouse university days when I overheard a trio of young college girls discussing the merits of the bottles of wine they were clutching. Each bottle they were holding had a value of about €6.00 so it was safe to say that if they bored of knocking back wine, they could use the remaining "alcohol" to remove paint from their bedroom walls. Instead they were animatedly comparing the alcohol percentages of each wine. They were torn between the 11.5% and they 12% bottles as the 12% was an extra €2. But, the brains of tomorrow cleverly deduced that if they spent a little more on the 12% bottle they would be more intoxicated therefore they would spend less on alcohol once they got into town later thatnight. You have to love the economics of an inpoverished mind.

My life has been so boring this last week

Sleep in
Get up
Shower ( only because society dicates so)
Take pills
Mope
Waste half my life on the internet
Take pills
Ingest baby food
watch crap on tv
Take pills
Ogle Ian on web cam
Stay up too late
Watch Ugly Betty reruns
Take pills
Go to bed

However, i did fit in a little shopping between taking my pills and ogling Ian.I bought clothes that have resulted in me spending the last day justifiying their purchase. I might as well look good justifying......

I had my wisdom teeth removed today. All four. I have zero swelling, bruising or pain. How strange. I'm sitting up, talking and taking in soft foods. Apparently once I came out of my anaesthetic I was full of the joys of life and had a great chat with the nurses. I was left in recovery for ages where I nearly went insane from boredom. I can only presume that the anaesthetic, painkillers and suppository combined completely numbed any potential pain. I am incapable of staying in bed during the day, so had a rather difficult time sitting in my recovery bed from 9am to 5 pm. Mind you, if I could, I would have an anaesthetic every 6 months. After anaesthetic, I feel so refreshed and relaxed. Perhaps I feel that way, as I go into the operating room all geared up for a long deep deep sleep. Nothing like it. However all the other people in recovery asked for injections to ease nausea and vomiting following their anaesthetic. Not power girl! Made of steel, me.

Today I went into the clinic wearing a hoodie, cargo pants, trainers, with no make up, spots all over my face and my ipod glued to my ears. I filled out my vitals on the medical report, handed it back only to have the nurse come back to tell me that I had made an error on my form. She didn't believe that I was 26. She thought I was about 17. How fabulous I thought, until I realised she probably thought I was still in my teens what with my spot ridden face and ipod blasting the latest from yer man Mika.

I am so depressed. I decided to take a look around some of the stores after work- try on a few things, see how the new clothing offerings work out on me. They don't. It appears one must be verging on an eating disorder to fit into half of what is on hangers. I refuse to give up food. I have far too important a relationship with it. Instead I shall craft something from a reusable shopping bag. I have oodles of them. Maybe I could even join the local knitting circle. I could enjoy tea with the old dears, get the low down on the best dentures out there, discuss who is the best looking in the local 70-80 year old male range, get my Sunday best out for Sunday service. The possibilites are endless. Mind you, I did buy a skirt in the Winter sales last weekend. A velvet wine number with green flower things embroidered on panels. It sounds rather disgusting, but it is quite the opposite. In fact it is a little ridiculous. I have no idea when or where I would even wear it. Perhaps that is why it was 70% off.......... they saw me coming.

Chuckle Chuckle.

For those of you that haven't been eating your recommended daily allowance of vegetables click on the Dilber cartoon to enlarge.

I noticed today that I haven't written very often in recent weeks. I have been a mixture of lazy and busy..... contradictions in themselves. Ian came to Ireland a few days after Christmas and stayed here for two weeks. We had a wonderful time, even if I nearly nagged him to an early grave. The company that I was temping with before Christmas have signed me to their name - a very positive move.

I would like to type some more but I when I return home in the evening, the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of another computer and type some more... mind you though I can now do that crazy typing - staring wide eyed at the screen , never glancing at the keys, tapping like a maniac while managing to type sentences word perfect. In the words of a Korean child, "Aaaazzaaaah".

I am also getting very lazy. My job requires that I sit for 6 hours a day. It is getting to the point where I complain about having to get off my chair to pick up a file. I know. I have also made a little foot rest from file boxes and have my chair angled perfectly to compliment said rest...... I am one doughnut away from Chief Wiggum status.

It's the Wild Wild West.

The Cliffs of Moher and the Burren.
Purty.

Igot bored and drew a Santa. Not a lot on TV at 2am.

Bah humbug.

Missed the staff Christmas knees up due to a cold.

Angry, am I.

I passed the Chinese Take Away on my way home. The Chinese famous for dishing out food poisoning as a non optional side dish. There is a jar on the counter saying "Tips".

Enough said.

Last night at the video store there were two boys aged about 12 and 14 looking at dvd's. One picked up some martial art movie and asked his friend if he would like to watch it. The young lad, looked at the dvd, turned it over and announced that under no cirumstance were they going to rent it if he had to read anything. I tutted at the youth of today and their inability to accept a little change in their movie viewing until I reflected back on my time in Korea. Whenever suggestions were made regarding the renting of Korea, Chinese or Japanese movies, I would whine and moan because I would have to waste my eyesight on subtitles.

I have the mentality of a child.

Depsite being rather sceptical about a Blonde Bond, Wednesday night at the movies put paid to such thoughts. I loved Casino Royale. It has the usual gadgets, ( the worlds tiniest defibrillator), action scenes, chase scenes, ridiculous victories on Bond's part and the essential Bond girls. But, unlike previous renditions of the franchise, this 007 had a human dimension to him. He cried, he nearly died, he sweated, he bled and made countless mistakes. He wasn't robotic in his methods, preferring to show a vulnerable side while still giving an heroic aspect to the character.

The fact that Daniel Craig is as hot as a pancake and built like a brick outhouse does sway my opinion ever so slightly.

I have made a very depressing discovery. Elmo toys are a one off. Apparently, each year, the Elmo factory churns out the latest talking, dancing, laughing Elmo, example being Tickle Me Elmo from a few years ago. The Elmo factory people may never make Tickle Me Elmo again. Ever. So, right now every E-Bay seller is being kept awake each night dreaming about what they will do with the fortune they rake in from selling Tickle Me Elmo for outlandish sums to fools like me.

In the below clip, you can see the resident hound figures the hysterical Elmo is another reason to dig up the back garden. My cat (RIP), was not such a big fan of my Elmo. Ian bought me the Hawaiian one, which does the limbo, rolls around and sings a rather fetching little tune. Whenever I let Elmo do this 'thang', the cat would recoil in horror, attempt to kill him and when he showed no signs of going to the Pearly Gates, she would sit in disgust, turn her back to him and hiss.

Aaah yes, Elmo, a treat for all the family.

Tickle Me Elmo X TMX Elmo

I have discovered that it it more exhausting to pretend to be working than it is to actually be working. It is more exhausting to try to drag out an activity over an hour than to it is to get it done in 10 minutes.

At this rate of going I could actually turn into a workaholic!

Wahey!